International

Berlin gears up to tackle anti-Bush protests

BERLIN May 21. The Foreign Minister, Joschka Fischer, on Tuesday urged anti-war protesters mobilising for the U.S. President George W. Bush's visit to keep their demonstrations peaceful.

Authorities in the capital were mobilising some 10,000 police officers to counter violence during a series of protests announced against any U.S. moves to broaden its military action against international terrorism.

``I believe that in everyone's interest, things must go peacefully, because otherwise a totally different message from the intended one will be sent,'' Mr. Fischer told German radio. ``It wouldn't be a message about the issues, but ugly anti-American pictures that would cross the Atlantic, and I think that can be in nobody's interest''.

Mr. Fischer, a former left-wing militant and anti-Vietnam War protester, fought with police decades ago. But the popular Foreign Minister stressed on Tuesday that ``the land of freedom was and is the United States.''

The Government, however, sought to deflect concern that demonstrations during Mr. Bush's visit would contrast poorly with quieter receptions given to the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, and the Chinese President, Jiang Zemin, saying the right to demonstrate peacefully was anchored in the German Constitution. ``However, everyone that goes into the street should be conscious of the fact that this is only possible because the United States defended West Berlin's freedom over decades, and that the reunification of our country would not have been possible without American support,'' a senior Government adviser said on condition of anonymity.

The first protests were to be held on Berlin's central Unter den Linden boulevard by a coalition of pacifist and anti-globalisation organisations. Some lawmakers from Mr. Fischer's own Green's party, which has pacifist roots, and the former Communist Party of Democratic Socialism, the only party to oppose deploying German troops in Afghanistan, also planned their own protests a full day ahead of Mr. Bush's scheduled arrival on Wednesday. The Christian Democratic Union planned a counter-demonstration. — AP

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