Press Release: FAU-IWA Frankfurt Condemns House Search and Criminalization before Conference of Interior Ministers

In the night from May 25 to 26, two people were arrested who had allegedly been seen spraying slogans against the Conference of Interior Ministers, which will take place from June 21 to 22 in

Frankfurt am Main. The arrest was extremely brutal. One of the suspects was intentionally struck by a civil police car; then a plainclothes policeman hit his head several times on the ground, which caused facial injuries and a broken finger. The wounds remained untreated for several hours. After the arrest, ten policemen forced their way into the victim's flat, searching his room and his flatmates'. The public attorney's office had issued the search warrant.

During the search, officers declared that this was not a search for spray painting material but a search for anything which can be used against the tenants of this flat. Their justification was, that some men at the police headquarters are displeased about the mobilisation of protests against the Conference of Interior Ministers. Flyers with "apparently antifascist content" (cited from the confiscation protocol), posters against the Conference of Interior Ministers, computers, storage media, some firecrackers and a bottle containing fuel for two-strike engines were confiscated.

This disproportional, criminalizing and probably illegal action by the Frankfurt police was picked up by the mass media and continued in the press. In an inflammatory article in one of Germany's biggest newspapers, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Katharina Iskander and Helmnut Schwan wrote about the supposed "explosives" and "Molotov cocktails" which were supposed to be used by left extremists to terrorize the Conference of Interior Ministers. More press releases in Frankfurter Rundschau, Frankfurter Neue Presse and Hessen Broadcast (HR3) followed up.

Some days later another person was noted for using mobilization stickers.

FAU Frankfurt, which is among the organisations calling up for the demonstration "We come to annoy! Smash the conference of interior ministers!" declares its solidarity with each affected person. This criminalization by the police, supported by press agitation, is symbolizing exactly the policy which stands for the conference of the interior minister's racist agenda and its reactions to social conflicts - another reason, to annoy them!

Demonstration

We come to annoy!

Smash the Conference of Interior Ministers!

June 22 - 6.p.m. - Hauptwache - Frankfurt am Main

Press Secretariat FAU/FFM

For more informations, see:
* Smash the Conference of Interior Ministers!
* Material
* Homepage FAU/FfM