P R E S S N O T I C E
(protocol of memory of happenings added)
The PDS students association, the left student association ("Linke
StudentInnen-Assoziation" (LiSta)) Tübingen, Titus Stahl, member of
the local PDS presidium Baden Württemberg:
At the demonstrations in Vienna against the FPÖ-ÖVP Koalition four
participants of young leftists from Tübingen [Germany] were attacked by
the local special police forces "COBRA". According to the attacked they
were
seperated without reason from the rest of the group of demonstrants at the
preparations of the demo. They claim they were rushed into an entrance of
a
building, beaten up, insulted, examined and beaten by boots. The clothes
and
mobile phones, sim cards, watches and other personal belongings of value
were
systematically destroyed. The damage is estimated more than 1000 Deutsch
Marks.
After the police forces had worked on them for an unsually long period,
after
they had been taken photos of, their shoes, information material on the
demonstrations and other belongings were confiscated. They were threatened
that
- if they were found somewhere they would be arrested and that they should
immagine what would be done to them then. This inncident was obviously
illegal. It is part of a series of violations of human rights in Austria
and
it puts a light on the new "freiheitliche" situation in Austria.
Therefore the involved parties declare: the right extremist and disrepect
of
human beings aspect of the FPÖ-ÖVP politics must be made public.
Happenings like these show that the propaganda of the regime (quote ORF:
"the police only had to quite down some demonstrants" [ ORF is the national
state broadcasting institution]) is a lie. Leftists in Austria will still
be
able to count on the solidarity of the international antifascist movement.
Fight Nazis - everywhere - together - on all levels - with all means!
Titus Stahl
Member of the Landesvorstandes of the PDS Baden Württemberg
Protocol of memory of the happenings on 2000.02.19 in
Vienna
In the following I want to describe the happenings from my perspective.
The
other involved persons were treated simmilarly.
(13:30) Before the start of the demonstrations at 14:00 on "Westbahnhof"
[ western central train station ] four of our group went to our car which
was parked in front of the Lohrgasse 5 in order to get some food and some
stuff for the demo.
As we went back on our way to Westbahnhof at 13:40 we only managed to go
for a
few meters. Suddenly a police bus with warning signals stopped right next
to
us. The number of the bus was BP 800.
Six or seven policemen got out of the car. They were wearing black uniforms,
armour and black barrets. Later we discovered that they were from the special
police force "COBRA".
We were sized and pressed against the wall. We had to stand there with spread
legs. One policeman tore off my belt bag so that all belt buckels were ripped
off.
I complained and said that my belt could have been opened normally. As a
consequence he yelled at me to be quiet, he took my head and hit it against
to stone wall. Now I realized that this was not a routine control. He started
to tear off / open all my bags of my trousers regardless if they had any
contents or not. Where he did not succeed immediately he tried to open them
until he had destroyed them.
Then the policemen opened a door of a nearby house entrance and pushed us
in
commenting that they could treat us better in there. As soon as we were
inside they closed the door so that nobody from the outside could witness
what was happening inside.
The following happened during a period of 20 minutes. During the whole time
we were beaten, pulled on our hair, kicked between our legs and our fingers
were being bent.
We had to stand against the wall the whole time. If somebody did not look
straight at the wall he was beaten.
Then one of the policemen went around and shouted at us what we planned
to do
here. One of us answered that we wanted to demonstrate against the participation
of the FPÖ.
Next one of the policemen pulled me by the hair and shouted at me: he knew
that we were foreign anarchists that we wanted to do them wrong, that we
were not nazis, that this was a lie, that we would spread lies. He said
that
we were not Austrians and that this was not our country and that nothing
was to be of interest for us here. Finally he said that we should get out
of
here.
The policemen wanted to know where we were from, if we were organized through
the internet, if we had come here alone, where we would sleep, etc. If you
did not answer immediately you were beaten.
From our belongings which were spread all over the place they took keys
and
asked us which one belong to which person.It seemed they wanted to find
out if
we were alone.
They also searched our information material and remarked "they know everything
through the internet, they have everything". They took all telephone numbers.
They took the mobile phone from one of us and discovered the saved phone
number of the information bureau. They asked, what sort of number this
number was and for which purpose we would need it. Then they repeadingly
asked the owner of the mobile phone about a passphrase.
Then they took the SIM-chips out of all mobile phones and scratched them
on
the wall. Additionally, the mobile phoes were thrown on the ground and
kicked, until the cover was destroyed.
Also, my watch was ripped of from my wrist and destroyed. A friend's vest
was completely torn into pieces.
Now, they shouted to each of us, asking what we were doing now until someone
answered: Going home. They wanted to know, which checkpoint we used on the
trip to Austria and which other groups from Germany were here, too; if we
were "Wessies" or "Ossis", [ people from former West- or East-Germany ].
Probably, because the passport of one of us said "Magdeburg" as his main
residence.
Then they relayed our personal id-data via radio and completely
searched our car, not without taking some things. They broght a
photographer to us, who was wearing civil clothes. He took some portrait
photos from all of us and they told us, that these photos were relayed to
the German Federal Police [Bundeskriminalamt, BKA]. One of us was forced
by
laughing policemen to smile into the camera.
We had to take off our shoes and they were taken away. One of the policemen
explained that every policeman could recognize us by our bare feet and we
should not dare to go to the demos. If we decided to do so we would
automatically be arrested and we should imagine what would happen then.
Apart
from that we should stay away from Austria in the future.
We should reclaim our shoes at the last gas station in front of the border
(they never were sent there of course). Finally the police left, closed
the door and drove away.
We left the inner city as soon as possible. At a public telephone booth
we
called the telephone number for law support. They told us not to contact
the police nor to tell them our current location. Apart from that they
suggested, not to go back to Germany immediately but rather find a safe
place
in Vienna first. They reasoned that we would probably be awaited at the
border
already. We then contacted the German embassy. One employee there remarked
that these were the austrian laws. We should call them again on Monday when
the embassy was open again.
Fortunately - at a gas station - we met the father of a journalist. He gave
us
contact information. She gave us some at least some socks, gave us her card.
Contact to the press would usually intimitate the police - in her opinion
we
should try to get over the border.
We assume that other participants at the demo had the experience of such
a
treatment. This is a small part of what further "freiheitliche" actions
will bring. Civil rights probably won't be worth the paper on which they
were written. The left organizations in Austria therefore should receive
our solidarity against the fascist like FPÖ governement.
The damage done to our belongings is approx 1000 DM. We are deciding if
we
should any legal actions. We recognize however that this will have no chance.
Best regards,
Titus Stahl