||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ||| ||| ||| A N T I F A ||| ||| ||| ||| I N F O - B U L L E T I N ||| ||| _____ ||| ||| ||| ||| * News * Analysis * Research * Action * ||| ||| ||| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ***** ||/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\||/\|| || * -- UPDATE -- * - September 24, 1996 - * -- UPDATE -- * || ||\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/||\/|| ***** _________________________________________________________________ G E R M A N Y U P D A T E BERLIN ANTIRACIST INFORMATION NETWORK News Update August/September 96 _________________________________________________________________ C O N T E N T S ----- 1. Luebeck's Mayor Clashes With State Interior Minister 2. Antiracist Demonstration In Grevesmuehlen Banned; Antiracists Attacked By Police; Mass Arrests 3. International Commission Reports One-Sided Investigations; Official Cover-Up Continues 4. A Halt To Deportations To Nigeria? Nigerian Deportee Disappeared ----- ** Topic: germany update aug/sep 96 ** ** Written 7:32 AM Sep 24, 1996 by MISCHA@VLBERLIN.comlink.apc.org in cdp:gen.racism ** ----- Berlin 23.09.96 * NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN LUEBECK MASSACRE CASE * LUEBECK'S MAYOR CLASHES WITH STATE INTERIOR MINISTER Luebeck's social democratic mayor Michael Boutellier clashed publicly with his party colleague, Schleswig-Holstein Interior Minister Ekkehard Wientholtz at a public meeting in late August with survivors of the attack on the refugee hostal in Luebeck early this year which cost ten lives. After the attack Mayor Boutellier had assured survivors that they would be granted permission to stay in Germany. This is now being contradicted by Interior Minister Wientholtz, who claims that each case will have to be reviewed individually. Mayor Boutellier is quoted as saying: "I expect a clear signal from you as a politician this evening. Otherwise I shall be ashamed to be in the same party as you" (both are members of the SPD). Minister Wientholtz angered the audience by recalling Boutellier's call for civil disobedience and drawing parallels with the tactics of the radical right: "Even an extreme right-wing mayor would have to realize that he is bound by law and rights". Minister Wientholtz is also responsible for disciplinary proceedings against Mayor Boutellier for his call for civil disobedience against the deportation machinery of the Germany state. Following the discussion the Luebeck branch of the SPD passed a resolution effectively gagging the mayor and preventing him from criticizing the Interior Minister. The resolution states: "We recognize divergent opinions in the party. This should not however lead to a situation in which elected representatives of the Social Democratic Party accuse each other publicly about their attitude towards the application of the asylum law". Mayor Boutellier however received support from the party's youth organisation as well as from the Green party, who also called for long-term residence permits for the victims of the attack and for an end to the disciplinary proceedings against the mayor. ----- ANTIRACIST DEMONSTRATION IN GREVESMUEHLEN BANNED - ANTIRACISTS ATTACKED BY POLICE. MASS ARRESTS. An antiracist demonstration planned for August 31st in the town of Grevesmuehlen, near Luebeck, was banned by the police in the week preceding the event. Grevesmuehlen is the home town of four men involved in the local neo-nazi scene who are suspected of involvement in the Luebeck massacre. The police justified the ban by claiming the demonstration would represent "a danger to public security and order". They also assumed that demonstrators would "commit offences against the law of assembly". Demonstration organizers announced that they would meet in Luebeck instead. On the day, 400-500 demonstrators met in Luebeck after extensive searches and hold-ups by police, who arrested one demonstrator allegedly for the possession of a weapon. Police also permitted around 250 demonstrators to board a train to Grevesmuehlen, where they were greeted by a group of around 50 local youth giving nazi-style salutes. The arriving demonstrators were immediately surrounded by riot police, who outnumbered the demonstrators by more than two to one. The demonstrators announced by megaphone that they intended to make use of their right to conduct a spontaneous public assembly but that they would not attempt to demonstrate through the town, and would depart back to Luebeck on the next train. A representative of the demo organisers who attempted to personally register the rally in accordance with German law, was told by the a police commanding officer to "piss off". The police then attacked the demonstrators with fists and clubs, arresting over 200 to the applause of the watching neo- fascist youth. The demonstrators were taken to a school sports hall. Those arrested spoke of further police violence during the transport and in the hall itself. At a press conference the commanding police officer Hinrich Alpen denied that clubs had been used (although subsequent press pictures clearly show police attacking demonstrators with clubs drawn) and described the attempts of the organisers to register the assembly as "not relevant". He attempted to justify the mass arrests by claiming that he had received information from Luebeck that the demonstrators had dug up stones which they had with them, although no further evidence was produced to substantiate this claim. ----- INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION REPORTS ONE-SIDED INVESTIGATIONS. OFFICIAL COVER-UP ATTEMPTS CONTINUE An interim report published on September 9th by the Independent International Commission monitoring investigations into the Luebeck massacre describes the response of the German authorites to the fire as "one-sided". The report points to the contradictions in the version constructed by the State Prosecutor and states that the unconfirmed "confession" allegedly heard by the main witness for the prosecution "would be considered as an insufficient basis from which to find the accused guilty in most legal systems". In a section concerning the four right-wing suspects from Grevesmuehlen the Commission stated that it had the impression that the release of the four suspects following a short period of detention was accompanied by a "sigh of relief" from public opinion, and that it was this sigh of relief that they detected behind the authorities' exclusive concentration on attempting to hold Safwan Eid solely responsible for the fire. The Commission noted that the investigating authorities had overlooked or ignored evidence pointing towards the Grevesmuehlen suspects, evidence - such as the burns to the faces of three of the four suspects - which the Commission regards as "a positive indication of participation in the crime". Meanwhile further indications have emerged of attempts by the investigating authorities to doctor evidence regarding the activities of the four on the night of the fire in order to strengthen their alibis. The _Junge Welt_ newspaper of 14/15 September reported that the Luebeck State Prosecutor had ordered the forensic doctor who had originally examined the four to define exactly what he meant when he stated that the burns to their faces were "fresh". The doctor replied by saying that fresh meant "not older than 24 hours", i.e. that the men must have received the burns on the night of the fire, and that in consequence their alibis were incorrect. After initially stating that "this circumstance alone does not prove participation in the crime", the State Prosecutor is now reported to have commissioned another medical report with the stated objective of proving "that the traces detected are without reservation all order than one or several days", thus reinstating the previously defunct alibis of the suspects. This action however seems in keeping with the general one- sidedness of the authorities investigations. The Hamburg "Morgenpost" newspaper from July 3rd listed some of the inconsistencies in the investigations: What about the ground floor window which was broken, with the glass lying inside the building? What about the frame of the bolted front door, which was found damaged at the scene and sent to the Criminal-Technical Examination Unit in Kiel, but never arrived? Or what about the charred floor panel which the Criminal Investigation Department secured at the supposed point of origin of the fire, but which can no longer be found? And the newspaper _AK - Analyse & Kritik_ from 22nd August also observed that, the State Prosecutor's theory about the point of origin and course of the fire has the flaw that, according to its version, burning petrol would have had to flow uphill in order to set the stairs on fire. In addition, the _Junge Welt_ of 14/15th September also reported that a fresh witness has come forward to testify that a friend of one of the Grevesmuehlen suspects had told him of his participation in the arson attack. The police however have paid no attention to the story and the witness has not been called to testify in the trial. ----- TRIAL AGAINST SAFWAN EID OPENS IN LUEBECK The trial against the 20 year old Lebanese man Safwan Eid started on September 16th in the Luebeck State Court amidst massive police security measures. Over 200 police officers were reported to be on duty in and around the courthouse. The charges against Safwan Eid no longer include multiple murder as originally requested by the State Prosecutor, but still include serious arson and physical injury resulting from negligence, which carries a maximum of 10 years to life imprisonment. The trial is initially set to last 8 days, with over 60 witnesses to be called. Safwan Eid's defence counsel Gabriele Heinecke was reported to be optimistic that her client's innocence would be proven: "Anything else would just continue this legal scandal" she is quoted as saying. A man was ejected from the courtroom on the first day of the trial for shouting "The racist murderers must go to jail". A further 70 people also joined a spontaneous demonstration through Luebeck city centre. Luebeck Coalition Against Racism have announced a demonstration for November 2nd. A hitherto unknown group calling itself the "Group Against Nation and Racism" hung a banner on the famous Holsten Gate, images of which are used as the official symbol of the city. The banner read: "Germany finds itself not guilty". In an explanatory leaflet the group stated that the city of Luebeck is no longer famous for its marzipan and its architecture, but for "covering up an arson attack in order to take the heat off the German nation". The trial continues. ----- We document below a translation of a statement by ArGiB - Antiracist Groups in Bonn, calling for deportations to Nigeria to be halted. ----- ArGiB ANTIRACIST GROUPS IN BONN Bonn, 18.09.96 *Press Release* A HALT TO DEPORTATIONS TO NIGERIA? NIGERIAN DEPORTEE DISAPPEARED On the occasion of the conference of State Interior Ministers on September 19th the Antiracist Groups in Bonn (ArGiB) draw attention once again to the fate of the Nigerian oppositionist Felix Erhahon and reiterate our demand for a general stop to deportations to Nigeria. Fefix Erhahon was deported to Nigeria on September 10th. This took place under the express instructions of the Bonn Bureau for Foreigners and is now being sold by city mayor Bdrbel Dieckmann as a breakdown in the functioning of the Central Authority for Foreigners in Cologne. This represents a breach of promise by the Green Party faction on the city council as well as a tearing up of the written assurance by Frau Zwiebler from the mayor's office that Felix Erhahon would not be deported before his case is decided by the Commission for Special Hardship Cases in the state of Nordrhein-Westphalen (NRW). The earliest date on which the Commission would have been able to discuss his case was however one week after his actual deportation. Felix Erhahon has disappeared since being deported to Nigeria. He has yet to contact his parents, relatives or friends. It is to be assumed that Felix Erhahon was arrested on arrival at the airport by the "security forces" of the military dicatorship. According to reports by Amnesty International, torture in prison and the "disappearing" of oppositionists is part of everyday practice in Nigeria. The fate of Felix Erhahon is just one example of the inhuman and racist deportation policies in the Federal Republic of Germany. Social-democratic/Green governments - whether in Bonn or in NRW - share responsibility for these practices. The Antiracist Groups in Bonn (ArGiB) call for a general stop to deportations to Nigeria and the right of residence for all. We ask you to document the fate of Felix Erhahon, particularly with a view to the Conference of Interior Ministers in Bonn on September 19th, where a potential stop to deportations to Nigeria may be on the agenda. ----- Contact: Antiracist Telephone (+49)-228-636151 Mo, Wed, Thur 18.oo-20.oo * * * * * Bay Area Coalition for Our Reproductive Rights (BACORR) 750 La Playa # 730 San Francisco, California 94121 Voice: (415) 437-4032 E-Mail: On PeaceNet visit BACORR's conference. 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