Bush in Berlin

A day before the planned arrival of US President George W. Bush, Berlin is getting ready for what is promising to be a tension-filled three days of demonstrations and actions.
The area around the Brandenburg Gate, Reichstag and Hotel Adlon, where Bush will be staying is being built into a fortress that will be guarded by an estimated 10,000 police and border patrol from all over Germany. Security level 1, the highest possible, will be in effect for Bush’s visit.
Bush will arrive in the city at around 10 p.m. on Wednesday and leave the following day at about 4 p.m. A few hours before his departure Bush plans to give a speech in the Bundestag. This will mark the first time a US President has given a speech in front of the Bundestag.
In the past week there have been a couple of banner hanging actions. The first of these was hung from a church opposite city hall (Rotes Rathaus) and read “Pretzels for Bush”, a reference to the incident in which the President choked and passed out while eating pretzels in the White House. The second, which took place yesterday, was hung from the victory column (Siegesäule) and read “Globalize Solidarity Not War.” The activist was cheered by on-lookers as the police escorted him through the crowd after hanging for about an hour.
Today’s demonstration, organized by “Axis of Peace” (http://www.achse-des-friedens.de), will be the first in a series of major demonstrations that is to span the next three days. Organizers of tomorrow’s demonstrations expect anywhere from 20 to 100 thousand people to take to the streets to show there opposition to US policy on a wide range of issues including “the war on terrorism”, the threat of renewed war in Iraq, the environment, globalization and the Bush administration’s rejection of agreed upon international treaties.
Berlin will not be the only city to stage demonstrations. Cities throughout the Bundesrepublik will hold simultaneous demonstrations on Wednesday.

After leaving Berlin Bush and the First Lady will fly to Moscow followed by France and Italy.

--IMC-Germany--