There is still no confession – but there is cheering in the scene: “They celebrate it,” says Munich’s police vice president Michael Dibowski the day after the arson attack, in which eight federal police cars parked in Haidhausen were destroyed by as yet unknown perpetrators. Around 3,000 officials will be on duty around the G-7 summit in Munich alone. In order to prevent further attacks as far as possible, to accompany the 18 summit-related meetings that have now been announced, to escort participants in the political meeting and protect their accommodation – but also, in view of large-scale rallies and other events, to ensure that traffic in Munich stops not completely collapsed this weekend.
At least 20,000 participants are expected to attend the large-scale demonstration “Climate crisis, extinction of species, inequality – fair is different” on Saturday. However, like seven years ago, it could well be twice as many. Dibowski and the Munich police are preparing for it. And on the fact that most of them, like seven years ago, when the police and fire brigade even helped the demonstrators with water over dry spells caused by the heat, want to bring their cause to the streets peacefully and imaginatively. But maybe not all.
According to Dibowski, the preliminary talks with the organizers of the Munich demonstration, including Bund Naturschutz, Naturfreunde, Misereor, Brot für die Welt and Welthungerhilfe, “went very well”. But the Munich police are also expecting almost a thousand participants who are attributed to the left-wing autonomous “Black Block”. The rally was being mobilized nationwide in this scene, albeit to a lesser extent than in 2015 before the last Elmauer summit. What plays into the hands of the Munich police: The G-7 meeting in the Bavarian mountains will be followed immediately by a NATO summit in Madrid. For militant opponents from abroad, he is apparently the preferred target. So far, there have been hardly any international calls for protests in Munich or Elmau, says Dibowski: “That’s quite fine with us.”
But the Munich police not only want to consistently oppose violent criminals, but also attempts at so-called “civil disobedience”. Munich’s second-highest police officer clarifies the position of the security authorities that this is an “invented legal concept” – anyone who argues with it is playing down crimes. Road blockades or disruptive actions like in September in the context of the IAA auto show would therefore not be tolerated under any circumstances and any violations of the law would be consistently reported. “Legitimate protest ends where criminal behavior begins,” said the police vice president. The Munich police therefore already want to specifically control the possible arrival routes. She receives support from the federal police on trains and at stations.
The differentiation between peaceful participants in the meeting and violent groups is of particular importance, Dibowski explains the operational philosophy of the Munich police on Thursday afternoon. “Should members of the left-wing autonomous scene try to live out their potential for violence – in the protection of the majority of peaceful participants in the meeting – the Munich police will take consistent action against it,” said the police vice president.
This could apply even more to the protests in and around Garmisch than to Munich, which have been announced for the following days. Munich police officers will also be deployed there – in the management staff, but also special forces and detectives. The Munich police, for their part, receive support from other federal states. After the security conference in mid-February, the G-7 meeting, which only appears to be taking place far away in the Wetterstein mountains, is the second major operation for the Munich police this year.