Tag Archives: Germany

One dead in knife attack in Hamburg supermarket, motive unclear

Security forces are seen after a knife attack in a supermarket in Hamburg, Germany, July 28, 2017. REUTERS/Morris Mac Matzen

BERLIN (Reuters) – One person was killed in an attack by a lone knifeman in a supermarket in the northern German city of Hamburg on Friday, and four more were injured when the man fled the scene, police said.

The police said the man had suddenly started attacking customers in the shop, with no immediate indication of any political or religious motive. Officers detained him near the site.

“We have no clear information as to the motive or the number of wounded,” Hamburg police said in a tweet. “It was definitely a lone attacker.” They said initial reports about a possible robbery had not been substantiated.

Police said passersby tackled the man after he fled the scene, injuring him slightly, before plain clothes police officers could take him into custody.

Police have been on high alert in Germany since a spate of attacks on civilians last year, including a December attack on a Berlin Christmas market, when a hijacked truck plougher into the crowds, killing 12 and injuring many more.

Security has been a campaign issue ahead of Sept. 24 parliamentary elections, in which Chancellor Angela Merkel is expected to win a fourth term in office.

Newspaper Bild showed a picture of the alleged Hamburg attacker sitting in the back of a police car, his face concealed with a bloodied shroud.

A video on its website showed a helicopter landed outside the supermarket with armed police in body armor patrolling the neighborhood.

(Reporting By Thomas Escritt and Andrea Shalal; Editing by Michelle Martin and Toby Davis)

NATO offers to broker compromise in Turkish-German stand-off

FILE PHOTO: German Chancellor Angela Merkel greets Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the beginning of the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, July 7, 2017. REUTERS/Bernd Von Jutrczenka/POOL/File Photo

By Paul Carrel and Robin Emmott

BERLIN (Reuters) – NATO’s secretary general is offering to broker a visit by German lawmakers to troops serving on a Turkish air base in an attempt to heal a rift between the two allies which is disrupting anti-Islamic State operations.

The mediation offer by NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg, announced on Monday, came as Ankara itself sought to limit the economic fallout from the damaging row with Berlin, dropping a request for Germany to help it investigate hundreds of German companies it said could have links to terrorism.

Germany has become increasingly worried by President Tayyip Erdogan’s crackdown on the Turkish opposition since a coup attempt last year – concerns made more acute by the arrest this month of six human rights activists, including one German.

Adding to tensions is Turkey’s refusal to let German members of parliament visit soldiers stationed at two air bases. For historical reasons, Germany’s soldiers answer to parliament and Berlin insists lawmakers have access to them.

This has already led Germany to move troops involved in the campaign against Islamic State from Turkey’s Incirlik base to Jordan. The risk of further decampments has sparked deep concern in NATO and now prompted it to intervene.

“The Secretary General has now offered to arrange a visit for parliamentarians to Konya airfield within a NATO framework,” alliance spokesman Piers Cazalet said on Monday. “Konya airfield is vital for NATO operations in support of Turkey and the Counter-ISIS Coalition.”

With Germany Ankara’s largest export market and home to a three million strong Turkish diaspora, it is in Turkey’s economic interests to resolve the row. The swift deterioration in relations threatens to damage deep-rooted human and economic ties.

CLOSE TIES

Germany has warned its nationals traveling to Turkey that they do so at their own risk, and Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said Erdogan was “jeopardizing the centuries-old partnership”.

Stepping back from confrontation, Turkey’s interior minister on Monday told his German counterpart that Ankara’s submission to Interpol of a list of nearly 700 German companies suspected of backing terrorism had stemmed from “a communications problem”.

Turkey had merely asked Interpol for information regarding the exports of 40 Turkish companies with alleged links to U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, blamed for the failed putsch last July, Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said. He promised that Turkey would remain a “safe haven” for foreign investors.

Germany’s DIHK Chambers of Industry and Commerce said firms remained uncertain about doing business in Turkey, from which Germany bought $14 billion worth of goods in 2016.

“I hear it a lot: if the political environment does not improve, if legal certainty is in question, then there will hardly be a recovery in new investments by German firms (in Turkey),” DIHK foreign trade chief Volker Treier said.

(Additional reporting by Rene Wagner in Berlin, Robin Emmott in Brussels and Ece Toksabay in Ankara, writing by Thomas Escritt; Editing by Richard Balmforth)

Turkish journalists go on trial accused of supporting terrorism

Journalists and press freedom activists release balloons during a demonstration in solidarity with the members of the opposition newspaper Cumhuriyet who were accused of supporting a terrorist group outside a courthouse, in Istanbul, Turkey, July 24, 2017.

By Can Sezer

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Prominent journalists and other staff at a Turkish opposition newspaper went on trial on Monday accused of supporting a terrorist group, in a case that critics of President Tayyip Erdogan consider attack on free speech.

“Journalism is not a crime,” chanted several hundred people gathered outside the central Istanbul court to protest against the prosecution of 17 writers, executives and lawyers of the secularist Cumhuriyet newspaper.

The trial coincides with an escalating dispute with Germany over the arrest in Turkey of 10 rights activists, including one German, as part of a crackdown since last year’s attempted coup against Erdogan.

Turkish prosecutors are seeking up to 43 years in jail for newspaper staff accused of targeting Erdogan through “asymmetric war methods”.

“I am not here because I knowingly and willingly helped a terrorist organisation, but because I am an independent, questioning and critical journalist,” one of the defendants, columnist Kadri Gursel, told the court.

Gursel, who, along with editor Murat Sabuncu and other senior staff, has been in pre-trial detention for 267 days, was prevented from hugging his son in the courtroom by security guards, the newspaper said on its website.

The 324-page indictment alleges Cumhuriyet was effectively taken over by the network of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, blamed for the failed putsch last July, and used to “veil the actions of terrorist groups”.

Gulen has denied any involvement in the coup.

The newspaper is also accused of writing stories that serve “separatist manipulation”.

Other defendants include Ahmet Sik, who once wrote a book critical of Gulen’s movement. Former editor Can Dundar, who is living in Germany, is being tried in absentia.

The newspaper has called the charges “imaginary accusations and slander”. Social media posts comprised the bulk of evidence in the indictment, along with allegations that staff had been in contact with users of Bylock, an encrypted messaging app the government says was used by Gulen’s followers.

 

‘DE FACTO COALITION’

“According to the government, everyone in opposition is a terrorist, the only non-terrorists are themselves,” Filiz Kerestecioglu, a member of parliament from the pro-Kurdish HDP opposition party, told reporters ahead of the trial.

Gursel, the columnist, denied he had links to Gulen’s movement, saying he had in the past revealed ties between Erdogan’s AK Party and the Gulen movement.

Erdogan has his roots in political Islam and was an ally of the cleric until a public falling-out in 2013.

“I exposed the current government’s de facto coalition with this group and I foresaw the harm that this sinister cooperation would do to the country,” he told the court.

Rights groups and Turkey’s Western allies have complained of deteriorating human rights under Erdogan. In the crackdown since last July’s failed coup, 50,000 people have been jailed pending trial and some 150,000 detained or dismissed from their jobs.

As part of the purge some 150 media outlets have been shut down and around 160 journalists are in jail, according to the Turkish Journalists’ Association.

The crackdown has strained Turkey’s ties with the European Union, but reaction from the bloc has been restrained because it depends on Turkey to curb the flow of migrants into Europe.

Europe’s leading power, Germany, has stepped up pressure in recent days, threatening measures that could hinder German investment in Turkey and reviewing Turkish applications for arms deals.

Turkish authorities say the crackdown is justified by the gravity of the coup attempt, in which rogue soldiers tried to overthrow the government and Erdogan, killing 250 people, most of them civilians.

 

(Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

 

Four German women who joined Islamic State detained in Iraq: report

BERLIN (Reuters) – Four German women, including a 16-year-old girl, who joined Islamic State in recent years are being held in an Iraqi prison and receiving consular assistance, Der Spiegel magazine reported on Saturday.

It said diplomats had visited the four in a prison at the airport in Baghdad on Thursday and they were doing well given the circumstances. They could face the death penalty in Iraq for belonging to the militant group, the magazine added.

It said Iraqi authorities had given Germany a list with the women’s names at the beginning of the week, identifying the teenager only as Linda W. from the small town of Pulsnitz near the eastern city of Dresden.

Germany’s Foreign Ministry declined to comment on the report.

German prosecutors said on Tuesday they were checking reports that a 16-year-old under investigation for supporting Islamic State was among five women arrested in the Iraqi city of Mosul, where Iraqi forces declared victory over Islamic State earlier this month.

Der Spiegel said one of the Germans had Moroccan roots and another seemed to come from Chechnya but had a German passport.

The BfV domestic intelligence agency estimates that 930 people have left Germany in recent years to join Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. About 20 percent of them are women. Minors account for about 5 percent of the total number, of which half are female, it reckons.

(Reporting by Michelle Martin; Editing by Helen Popper)

‘You belong here’ Germany tells Turks as row with Ankara rages

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel addresses a news conference in Berlin, Germany, July 20, 2017. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch

By Thomas Escritt and Michelle Martin

BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany sought on Saturday to reassure the country’s three million people of Turkish descent it would stand by them as a row with Ankara escalates, saying they were not the target of changes to government policy on Turkey.

In a letter published in German and Turkish in daily newspaper Bild, Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said Germany had no quarrel with Turkish people in either country but could not stand by as “innocent” German citizens were jailed.

On Friday, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble compared Turkey’s detention of six rights activists, including a German, to the authoritarian former communist East Germany.

“However difficult the political relations between Germany and Turkey, one thing is clear: you, people of Turkish roots in Germany, belong here with us, whether you have a German passport or not,” Gabriel wrote in Saturday’s open letter.

“We have always striven for good relations with Turkey, because we know that good relations are important for you (German Turks),” he added.

He said Germany would review cooperation and especially economic aid for the fellow NATO member and campaign for Europe to take a clear position on Ankara.

Gokay Sofuoglu, chairman of the Turkish Community in Germany, welcomed Gabriel’s conciliatory words.

“We must not let ourselves be driven apart here in Germany. People with Turkish roots need to focus on Germany,” he told Welt am Sonntag newspaper.

‘UNACCEPTABLE AND UNBEARABLE’

Bilateral tensions were already high before the activists’ arrests after recriminations during an April referendum on extending President Tayyip Erdogan’s powers and a pullout of German troops from a Turkish air base that began this month.

The arrests are part of a sweeping crackdown across Turkish society since a failed coup against Erdogan last year.

German officials are also increasingly concerned at what they say is large-scale covert activity by Ankara’s security services among Germany’s Turkish diaspora.

Germany’s head of domestic intelligence said on Friday Turkish agencies were carrying out influence operations in Germany, including targeting opponents of Erdogan.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Bavarian ally, Horst Seehofer, told Welt am Sonntag the financial aid Turkey receives as part of the European Union accession procedures should be cut off.

Seehofer, leader of the Christian Social Union (CSU) that has long been skeptical about Turkey joining the EU, said the idea of the country becoming a full member was “well and truly over” and developments there were “unacceptable and unbearable”.

Germany has warned citizens who travel to Turkey they do so at their own risk and on Saturday the radical Left party urged the government to stop deportations in view of the arrest of government opponents.

“If the German Foreign Ministry warns against going on holiday in Turkey, then there needs to be an end to deportations of Turkish citizens,” party co-leader Bernd Riexinger told Die Welt newspaper.

(Editing by John Stonestreet and Helen Popper)

Turkey seeks to cool row with Germany as Berlin reviews arms requests

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble arrives to attend an European Union finance ministers meeting in Brussels, Belgium, July 11, 2017. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir

By Orhan Coskun and Michelle Martin

BERLIN (Reuters) – Turkey’s economy minister sought to calm rising tensions with Germany on Friday as Berlin said it was reviewing all applications for arms projects from Ankara.

Tensions between the NATO allies have escalated since Turkey arrested six human rights activists including German national Peter Steudtner on accusations of terrorism; but relations have been strained over a series of often bitter disputes this year.

Turkey’s economy minister told Reuters he believed the Turkey-Germany crisis was temporary.

“One must refrain from words that would cause lasting harm…to the economies,” Nihat Zeybekci said in an interview. “Germany must reassess comments that are inappropriate.”

But Germany said almost immediately afterwards it would review Turkish applications for arms projects.

“We’re checking all applications,” an Economy Ministry spokeswoman said.

That means the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (Bafa) probably cannot issue new export approvals; but projects already agreed will not be affected initially as no international sanctions have been imposed on Turkey.

In 2016 the German government exported armaments worth 83.9 million euros to Turkey. In the first four months of 2017, business worth 22 million euros was approved – for deliveries for the navy and for joint projects with other NATO partners.

Germany has warned Germans traveling to Turkey that they do so at their own peril. Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble was quoted as comparing Turkey with the former communist East German state – the German Democratic Republic (GDR).

“Turkey now makes arbitrary arrests and no longer sticks to minimum consular standards. That reminds me of how it was in the GDR,” he told the mass-circulation Bild newspaper.

Schaeuble said those who traveled to the former Communist East before it collapsed in 1990 were aware that “if something happens to you, no one can help you”.

TURKISH SECRET SERVICES

German officials have complained they have not had full consular access to Steudtner, who was arrested with five others and accused of “terrorism” – an allegation Berlin has dismissed as absurd. Another German citizen was arrested on charges of links to terrorism earlier this year.

The arrests were part of a broader crackdown across Turkish society since a failed coup last July.

Germany’s domestic security chief expressed concern about increased activities of Turkey’s secret service and the growth of militant groups among the three million people with Turkish roots living on German soil.

“We know about the Turkish government’s influence on the Turkish community here in Germany,” BfV president Hans-Georg Maassen told local newspaper Neue Osnabruecker Zeitung.

Maassen named as an example charges being made against supporters of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara accuses of orchestrating Turkey’s failed coup last July. He also said there were attempts to “intimidate those with Turkish roots if they are against President (Tayyip) Erdogan”.

German authorities barred Turkish ministers in March from speaking at mass rallies of expatriates supporting Erdogan’s campaign for broader presidential powers. Erdogan responded by accusing Berlin of “fascist actions”.

More than 150,000 people have been sacked or suspended from jobs in Turkey’s civil service, military and private sector in the purges that followed the attempted putsch in 2016. More than 50,000 people have been jailed.

Rights groups and some Western governments say Erdogan is using the crackdown as a pretext to quash dissent. The Turkish government says the measures are necessary given the gravity of the security threat it faces.

Die Zeit newspaper reported this week that Turkish authorities had several weeks ago handed Berlin a list of 68 German companies, including Daimler and BASF that they accused of having links to U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, blamed by Ankara for orchestrating the coup.

Zeybekci said Germany’s behavior in cautioning its citizens over travel to Turkey was “unfortunate”, but he did not see harm accruing to tourism.

So far this year, bookings from Germany have accounted for some 10 percent of Turkey’s tourists.

Last year, the number of foreign visitors to Turkey fell 30 percent amid a spate of bombings by Kurdish and Islamist militants, the lowest in nine years. The travel sector contributes about $30 billion to the economy in a normal year.

Commercial links are close.

Germany was also Turkey’s top export destination in 2016, buying $14 billion worth of Turkish goods. It was also the second biggest source of Turkish imports, at $21.5 billion. Only China, at $25.4 billion, exported more to Turkey.

German news broadcaster n-tv said it would no longer run adverts that aimed to attract investment in Turkey.

(Writing by Paul Carrel; editing by Ralph Boulton)

Two German tourists stabbed to death on Egyptian beach

Egyptian in Red Sea knife attack supported Islamic State, sources say

By Mohamed Abdellah and Ahmed Tolba

CAIRO (Reuters) – An Egyptian man stabbed two German tourists to death and wounded four others on Friday at a popular seaside vacation spot on the Red Sea, after apparently searching out foreigners to attack, officials and witnesses said.

The knifeman killed the two German women and wounded two other tourists at the Zahabia hotel in Hurghada, then swam to a neighboring beach to attack at least two more people at the Sunny Days El Palacio resort before being caught by staff and arrested, officials and security sources said.

It was the first major attack on foreign tourists since a similar assault on the same resort more than a year ago, and comes as Egypt struggles to revive a tourism industry hurt by security threats and years of political upheaval.

“He had a knife with him and stabbed each of them three times in the chest. They died on the beach,” the security manager at the El Palacio hotel, Saud Abdelaziz, told Reuters.

“He jumped a wall between the hotels and swam to the other beach.”

Abdelaziz said two of the injured were Czech and two Armenian, but other officials said one of the women was Russian. They were being treated a local hospital. The Czech Foreign Ministry tweeted that one Czech woman had sustained a minor leg injury.

The German Foreign Ministry said it had no definite information, but could not rule out that German citizens were among the victims. The German Embassy in Cairo was working closely with the authorities, a ministry spokesman said.

ISLAMIST INSURGENCY

The attacker’s motive was still under investigation, the Interior Ministry said.

“He was looking for foreigners and he didn’t want any Egyptians,” said one member of staff at the Zahabia Hotel.

Egypt is fighting Islamist insurgents in the Sinai Peninsula, where they mainly target security forces, but militants have also attacked tourist targets in the past, as well as Coptic Christians and churches.

Hurghada, some 400 km (250 miles) south of the capital Cairo, is one of Egypt’s most popular vacation spots on the Red Sea.

In January 2016, two assailants armed with a gun, a knife and a suicide belt landed on the beach of a hotel in Hurghada, and wounded two foreign tourists.

Egypt has been hoping that investments in airport security and the cheaper Egyptian pound will bring tourist visits to its beaches and ancient sites back up to levels seen before its 2011 uprising.

The industry, a crucial source of hard currency, has struggled since then with years of political turmoil and mass protests, as well as the fallout from the crash of a jet taking Russian holidaymakers home from the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh in October 2015, in which 224 people died. Islamic State said it had brought the plane down with a bomb.

Friday’s attack came on a day that five policemen were killed by gunmen on a motorbike who ambushed their car just south of Cairo.

(Additional reporting by Mostafa Hashem in Cairo, Pavel Polityuk in Kiev, Robert Muller in Prague, Andreas Rinke in Berlin; Writing by Patrick Markey; Editing by Robin Pomeroy and Kevin Liffey)

German military aviation command launches cyber threat initiative

A German Air Force piolt poses inside the cockpit of an Airbus A400M military aircraft at the ILA Berlin Air Show in Schoenefeld, south of Berlin, Germany, June 1, 2016. Picture taken with a fish-eye lens. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch

By Andrea Shalal

BERLIN (Reuters) – The German military’s aviation safety chief has launched a new initiative against cyber threats, citing research that he said shows hackers can commandeer military airplanes with the help of equipment that costs about 5,000 euros ($5,700).

A defense ministry spokesman told Reuters that development of new “aviation cyber expertise” would cover everything from raising consciousness about cyber threats to technical research projects and equipping aircraft with protective systems.

State Secretary Katrin Suder had backed the idea, which Major General Ansgar Rieks, head of the German Military Aviation Authority, proposed in a letter in June, the spokesman said.

Rieks said last week that he was unnerved by a demonstration by the government-funded German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Bavaria showing hackers could take control of an aircraft with inexpensive equipment.

“That frightens me. I wrote to the state secretary about it and said doing nothing would amount to gross negligence,” he said at a talk at a conference in Bueckeburg, Germany. He said the issue was also a vital concern for civil aviation.

He said military officials needed to focus not just on potential problems with computer software, but should also work to “ensure that airplanes cannot be taken over from the ground, or possibly by a passenger in the air”.

A spokesman for the DLR, which has studied aviation cyber security extensively, had no immediate comment on the issue.

Germany’s military this year launched a new cyber command that groups cyber units from across the military, which will also involved in the new aviation cyber initiative.

Cyber resilience – making sure that systems can survive a cyber attack and keep functioning – was a major topic during a conference at Bundeswehr University Munich last month, the DLR spokesman said.

Germany’s military is also working on the aviation cyber issue within the European Union and NATO, he said.

Concerns about cyber attacks on aircraft and in the broader aviation sector have grown sharply in recent years with a growing barrage of attacks and breaches against other sectors.

Many experts fear that the aviation industry has not kept pace with the threat hackers pose to increasingly computer-connected airplanes.

Rapid adoption of communication protocols similar to those used on the internet to connect cockpits, cabins and ground controls, have left air traffic open to vulnerabilities bedevilling other sectors such as finance and oil and gas.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Louise Ireland)

Hamburg police fear further violence on final day of G20 summit

German riot police officers walk in front of protesters during demonstrations at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, July 8, 2017. REUTERS/Fabian Bimmer

By Joseph Nasr

HAMBURG (Reuters) – German police braced for a third day of violent clashes with anti-capitalist protesters bent on disrupting the G20 summit of global leaders in Hamburg port, after radicals torched cars, smashed shops and injured officers overnight.

While around 100,000 protestors have staged peaceful marches since Thursday, a hard core of the Black Bloc militants from across Europe have looted stores, set fire to street barricades and hurled bottles and paving slabs.

The head of Hamburg police said he was shocked by the “wave of destructive anger”, riots and arson committed by demonstrators since Thursday.

“We have clear indications it is highly likely that these violent perpetrators will mix in with today’s demonstration ‘G20 – not welcome!’ said Ralf Martin Meyer. “It is to be expected that again, no peaceful protest will be possible.”

The anti-globalisation Attac movement plans a demonstration of up to 100,000 people on the final day of the summit. Police said some 21,000 people had already gathered.

“Today we will bring our criticism of the G20 and our alternatives for fair global policies onto the streets,” said Attac’s Thomas Eberhardt-Koester.

“We want to respond to the police violence and senseless destruction of last night,” he added.

In the last three days, more than 200 police officers have been injured. Some 143 people have been arrested and 122 taken into custody. The number of injured protestors was not available. On Friday night, special armed police had been deployed with sub-machine guns.

World leaders and officials are putting the final touches to a joint statement on issues ranging from trade to climate change on Saturday, the final day of the summit.

Merkel had wanted to show her commitment to free speech by hosting G20 leaders in Hamburg, a port city with a strong radical tradition, but images of burning cars and shops and streets awash with debris have raised questions about that strategy.

Hamburg residents inspected the destruction on Saturday and said they were angry the summit was taking place there.

“Merkel underestimated the protests. The least she can do now is come visit (the district of) Sternschanze and see the damage for herself,” said Kai Mertens, a 50-year-old programmer.

“We are a very liberal district. But what they did here has nothing to do with the G20 or opposition to politics. They were hooligans and many were foreigners,” added Mertens.

Police from across Germany have been brought to Hamburg to reinforce the local force. A 27-year old German suspected of attempted murder after pointing a laser pointer at a police helicopter was due to face a judge on Saturday, said police.

(Writing by Madeline Chambers; Editing by Jon Boyle)

Leftist protesters vow to disrupt G20 summit in Hamburg

An activist carries a poster as he arrives at Hamburg Hauptbahnhof central railway station during the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, July 6, 2017. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch

By Joseph Nasr

HAMBURG (Reuters) – “Welcome to Hell”. That’s the greeting for U.S. President Donald Trump and other world leaders from anti-capitalist protesters in Hamburg, who have vowed to disrupt the G20 summit in the German port city.

Among the 100,000 protesters expected in the city, some 8,000 are deemed by security forces to be ready to commit violence, posing a challenge for those tasked with securing the July 7-8 summit of leaders of the world’s 20 biggest economies.

There has been no significant violence at several smaller demonstrations in the city this week, including a march on Wednesday by more than 7,000 beer-drinking mainly young revelers holding placards denouncing capitalism and G20 leaders.

But a fire overnight at a Porsche car dealer in the north of the city that damaged eight vehicles could be a foretaste of what’s to come. Police said they were investigating whether it was an arson attack.

“There is no concrete evidence to link the incident to the G20 summit,” a police spokesman told Reuters. “But we assume this is the case.”

Locals are unhappy with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to hold the summit in the center of Germany’s second-largest city as they fear property damage by violent protesters. Their daily routines are also being disrupted by security measures.

Up to 20,000 police officers will be on duty to watch over the main demonstration, dubbed “Welcome to Hell” by the alliance of anti-capitalist groups who organized it. Protesters have said they will try to block roads in the city.

Merkel took a big gamble in deciding to host the summit, where leaders will hold talks on difficult issues from trade and climate change to African development, in the city of her birth.

Should the protests go awry, her reputation could be damaged less than three months before an election in which she is seeking a fourth term.

To air the locals’ disenchantment, Hamburg-based soft drinks maker Fritz Kola has launched a poster advertising campaign featuring a portrait of Trump snoozing. A caption reads: “Wake up, man! Fritz Kola. Lots of caffeine”.

Protesters say the G20 has failed to solve many of the issues threatening world peace, including climate change, rising inequality and violent conflicts.

Activists arrive at Hamburg Hauptbahnhof central railway station during the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, July 6, 2017. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch

Activists arrive at Hamburg Hauptbahnhof central railway station during the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, July 6, 2017. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch

‘EGOISTIC LEADER’

Tens of thousands will gather at the fish market in the borough of St Pauli – known for its red light district – at 1400 GMT (10 a.m. ET), around the same time as Air Force One is due to land in Hamburg. They will then march north to the heavily secured summit venue.

“It’s ridiculous that police say some of us are violent when starting tomorrow the leaders of the world’s largest weapon exporting and importing nations will be arriving in our city,” said Stefan Hubert, a 32-year-old graphic designer who came to the protest on Wednesday with three friends.

Holding a placard reading ‘Make love great again!’ he added: “This summit is a waste of money that could be better spent on deploying more boats to stop migrants fleeing war and hunger from drowning in the Mediterranean.”

Turkish-German protester Fatima Cicek said she and her two sisters came to the demonstration on Wednesday to make the point that the G20 is undemocratic as it is a forum where a handful of leaders make decisions that could impact the whole world.

But her main issue is with Trump.

“He is the most disruptive and egotistic leader at the summit,” the veiled 38-year-old social worker said.

There is an irony in the protesters’ dislike of Trump. The U.S. president and anti-capitalist activists have something in common: distrust of globalization.

Yet Trump is in Hamburg to push for trade rules that benefit America, including steel makers facing tough competition from China, while the protesters are here to demand more rights for the poor regardless of where they live.

“Trump is here to promote his own interests and those of the richest people in America,” said Cicek. “We are demanding more rights for the millions of people in Africa who have no roof over their heads.”

(Reporting by Joseph Nasr; Editing by Toby Chopra)