- Title: Police in Hamburg present weapons find
- Date: 4th July 2017
- Summary: HAMBURG, GERMANY (JULY 4, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS EXTERIOR OF POLICE HEADQUARTERS HAMBURG SEIZED WEAPONS AND LAPTOPS NEWS CONFERENCE WITH HAMBURG POLICE PRESIDENT RALF MARTIN MEYER, AND DEPUTY OFFICER-IN-CHARGE OF CRIMINAL OPERATIONS IN CONNECTION WITH G20 SUMMIT, JAN HIEBER CAMERAS (SOUNDBITE) (German) HAMBURG POLICE PRESIDENT RALF MARTIN MEYER, SAYING: "It is of special public interest to show you and the public these (seized) items today because I believe that those items are quite revealing in terms of what kind of acts of violence are possible, and probably and very likely were even planned. And maybe other (acts of violence) are still being planned with other, similar items, which are still in the hands of the militant scene." VARIOUS OF ALTERED FIRE-EXTINGUISHERS AND OTHER ITEMS ON DISPLAY (SOUNDBITE) (German) HAMBURG POLICE PRESIDENT RALF MARTIN MEYER, SAYING: "The circumstances show as far as I am concerned that the militance of the G20 protesters is not only a prognosis, a theory, but that it is real. The evidence that there will be the feared and expected violence in connection with the G20 summit, is becoming tangible." MORE OF SEIZED ITEMS (SOUNDBITE) (German) HAMBURG POLICE PRESIDENT RALF MARTIN MEYER, SAYING: "They show - and we want to alert you to this - how widely interconnected the (militant) scene prepares for excesses of violence." MORE OF SEIZED ITEMS (SOUNDBITE) (German) CHIEF OF CRIMINAL DIVISION / IN CHARGE OF OPERATIONS IN CONNECTION WITH G20 SUMMIT, JAN HIEBER, SAYING: "Here you can see the damages to the police helmet - we will also show this (in a video). Well, a police officer will not stand still the entire time so that the device can explode precisely on his helmet. But we thought it still being very important to show you the impact. Because you can imagine if it lands on the clothes it can lead to severe injuries." HELMET HIEBER SPEAKING (SOUNDBITE) (German) CHIEF OF CRIMINAL DIVISION / IN CHARGE OF OPERATIONS IN CONNECTION WITH G20 SUMMIT, JAN HIEBER, SAYING: "We are looking at the real-life use: what was the goal of the Berlin protesters here in Hamburg? We assume that they wanted to create depots for attacks and violent riots, possibly with those weapons you see here." NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (German) CHIEF OF CRIMINAL DIVISION / IN CHARGE OF OPERATIONS IN CONNECTION WITH G20 SUMMIT, JAN HIEBER, SAYING: "We have to assume that we have only found a small percentage of what still lies in basements, garages and flats in and around Hamburg. And what is intended to be used as of Thursday against the police." MORE OF SEIZED ITEMS
- Embargoed: 18th July 2017 11:18
- Keywords: G20 Hamburg weapons protest
- Location: HAMBURG , GERMANY / UNKNOWN LOCATION
- City: HAMBURG , GERMANY / UNKNOWN LOCATION
- Country: Germany
- Topics: G20,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA0016OAXMX3
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: German police said on Tuesday (July 4) that they have seized a large arsenal of weapons like knives, baseball bats, batons, legal as well as forbidden pyrotechnics, bottles and cans filled with presumably flammable liquids, gas masks and numerous containers with unknown powder or chemicals in various locations in and around Hamburg.
Hamburg police said they believe violent protesters planned to use the weapons and chemicals to commit acts of violence during the G20 summit.
The G20 summit, comprised of 19 countries plus the European Union, will take place in Hamburg on July 7-8 and is expected to discuss several global political and economic issues.
German security forces expect some 8,000 violent protesters to converge on Hamburg this week for the summit, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said on Tuesday (July 4). Some 20,000 police officers will secure the event in Germany's second-largest city. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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