ELMAU (GERMANY) No fewer than 10,000 demonstrators are expected to march through the small Bavarian town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen on Saturday ahead of a summit of the world’s major economies.
By early Saturday some 1,000 protesters had gathered with tents and sleeping bags at a 3,000-square-metre camp on an open field surrounding the town.
Thousands more were arriving by bus from across the country.
Organisers of the Stop Elmau alliance expressed hope that the protests would not turn violent.
“Our protest is diverse. Even blockades and acts of civil disobedience form part of it. We are not planning any escalation, ” a spokesman for the demonstrators said
More than 20,000 police have been deployed to guard the summit of the leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) nations—the U.S., Britain, Canada, Italy, France, Japan and Germany, which starts on Sunday.
The two-day meeting, which is to be chaired by Chancellor, Angela Merkel, is to consider a broad range of issues ranging from the current state of the global economy, to terrorism, poverty and climate change.
The anti-G7 demonstrators launched their protests on Thursday when about 35,000 held a rally in the Bavarian capital of Munich.
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They called for the G7 leaders to take action to head off the threat of global warming and to address the social fallout from globalization.
Police said between 400 and 500 hooded protestors also marched through Garmisch-Partenkirchen’s picturesque streets on Friday night chanting “revolution.” (dpa/NAN)
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