2007-06-08 16:50:54 -
HINTER BOLLHAGEN, Germany (AP) - Protesters claimed victory over police guarding the Group of Eight summit in Germany after three days of blocking roads, defiantly demonstrating at the security fence protecting the world leaders _ and even leading police on a spectacular high-seas boat chase.
But police say their policy of «deescalation» worked _
allowing the protests to proceed so long as they remained peaceful, even in the banned zone around the fence _ but cracking down hard when things started to get out of control. They managed to prevent a repeat of the bloody riots in Rostock last weekend.
A demonstration Thursday at the main gate through the 12-kilometer-long (7½-mile-long) security fence at Hinter Bollhagen was a good example. Thousands of demonstrators were kept at bay in a field some 500 meters (550 yards) from the fence for most of the day, occasionally blasted with water cannons from police trucks when things looked to be heating up.
Some reached the razor wire-topped fence but were quickly pushed back by mounted police, and roadblocks at the gate and farther along were rapidly cleared.
But when the protest started to sour, police brought in more water cannons and the crowd quickly dispersed.
«Beforehand, we had a deescalation strategy with a contingency plan, and it worked well,» police spokesman Tilo Scholz said at the scene, looking over the security precautions in case demonstrators returned.
«Legally we could have arrested them all because they were banned from protesting in the area, but we didn't want to. What for
And though many protesters made it to the fence, none were known to have made it through.
But with the blockades at Hinter Bollhagen and at the smaller eastern entrance, delegations were forced to use boats to get to the summit area in Heiligendamm, and then later helicopters once waves got too high.
«We are more than satisfied,» Lea Voigt, a spokeswoman for the organizational group Block G-8, told reporters in Rostock. «We have managed to block the summit the entire time.
Greenpeace breached the secure zone at sea on Thursday with 11 boats in a spectacular protest before being intercepted. The group launched a hot-air balloon on Friday in another attempt to break into the perimeter, but it was forced to land by police helicopters.
«The aim was to provide a contrast to the Black Block,» Greenpeace organizer Svenja Koch said, referring to black-masked, stone-throwing protesters who dominated the front pages after the June 2 Rostock protest, dubbed the «Rostock Rumble» by German media.
«Now people are seeing photographs of a peaceful protest,» she said of the hot-air balloon launch.
While 400 police officers were injured in the «Rostock Rumble» protest _ along with 520 demonstrators _ police reported only eight officers with minor injuries over the whole period of the three-day summit. Through Thursday, some 500 people had been taken into custody, though it was not immediately clear how many were charged.
Voigt said a total of 13,000 people participated in demonstrations around the Heiligendamm fence and said despite what police said, she felt excessive force was used by some of the 16,000 officers on hand.
«The police moved ahead with massive violence _ not deescalation,» she said, adding that though she had no total count on how many protesters were hurt, one may have lost use of an eye after being blasted by a water cannon.
The protesters packed up on Friday and headed to Rostock for a concert and speeches. Some 5,000 people were on hand and no major incidents were reported.
Associated Press writers Matt Moore in Kuehlungsborn and Claus-Peter Tiemann in Rostock contributed to this report.
