Airbubba
29th Jul 2001, 22:30
Sounds like more "anarchists" demonstrating against "globalization"...
Wonder who finances these clowns?
__________________________________________
Protest closes Frankfurt airport
July 29, 2001 Posted: 1:21 PM EDT (1721 GMT)
FRANKFURT, Germany -- German police have closed off Frankfurt international airport after the threat of demonstrators protesting nearby.
The airport was closed on Sunday as several hundred people gathered to protest at Germany's asylum policy of deporting people whose bid for asylum has been rejected.
The group also said it was demonstrating for the complete abolition of all hurdles to immigration.
CNN's Chris Burns said it one stage up to 300 protesters managed to get into the airport terminal.
Several dozen police surrounded the protesters when they entered the airport terminal.
The demonstrators were mostly students who demonstrated peacefully.
Some carryied banners proclaiming "no borders, no nations."
The protesters were in the airport for about one hour, chanting slogans against Germany's immigration policies, before they left.
No flights were disrupted by the gathering, airport officials told CNN.
One asylum seeker from Togo told CNN that he is afraid to return to his country because, as a journalist, he fears retribution from his country's government.
A Frankfurt police spokesman told Reuters that the airport -- continental Europe's busiest with about 150,000 passengers passing through it each day -- was otherwise operating normally with virtually no delays for passengers.
Police said airport authorities closed off the airport to visitors to prevent any disorder by the local group, which has set up a camp near the airport.
There was a large police force at the airport, many wearing riot gear, but police reported no disturbances.
A spokesman for Fraport, the company operating the airport, said it had been closed to visitors as a precautionary measure.
"We are in the middle of a peak travel period and we have to ensure that everything operates on schedule," the spokesman said.
"We do not need to have a demonstration inside the terminal."
He said ticketed passengers only faced brief delays.
About 1,000 activists have gathered at the protest camp organised by a group called No Person is Illegal.
Some 500 took part on Saturday in a peaceful march into Frankfurt, including a rally before the Italian Consulate to protest reported police brutality at the Group of Eight summit in Genoa.
The German government contracts Lufthansa to take home nearly 10,000 rejected asylum seekers a year.
Some are restrained during the flight and escorted by guards.
Deportation using commercial airlines grabbed headlines in Europe following the deaths of several immigrants, including a Sudanese passenger in 1999 on a Lufthansa flight.
Last month, activists temporarily jammed the airline's Website.
According to a report in German news magazine Der Spiegel on Sunday, an expert has concluded that the Sudanese man suffocated because of the force with which three German police officers pinned him in his seat during takeoff.
Previously, the death was attributed to a special helmet meant to cushion his head from thrashing and to prevent him from biting officials.
Lufthansa has said it cannot be held responsible for Germany's asylum policy, which human rights groups charge sometimes sends refugees back to unsafe conditions in their native lands.
Belgium's Sabena airlines decided to stop transporting deportees against their will after a Nigerian died on a Sabena flight in 1998.
Swissair banned flying deportees in manacles after a Palestinian died on a flight last year.
Lufthansa has strengthened its policy of turning down illegals who are bound, helmeted or resisting deportation.
http://www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/07/29/ge rmany.airport/index.html (http://www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/07/29/germany.airport/index.html)
[ 29 July 2001: Message edited by: Airbubba ]
Wonder who finances these clowns?
__________________________________________
Protest closes Frankfurt airport
July 29, 2001 Posted: 1:21 PM EDT (1721 GMT)
FRANKFURT, Germany -- German police have closed off Frankfurt international airport after the threat of demonstrators protesting nearby.
The airport was closed on Sunday as several hundred people gathered to protest at Germany's asylum policy of deporting people whose bid for asylum has been rejected.
The group also said it was demonstrating for the complete abolition of all hurdles to immigration.
CNN's Chris Burns said it one stage up to 300 protesters managed to get into the airport terminal.
Several dozen police surrounded the protesters when they entered the airport terminal.
The demonstrators were mostly students who demonstrated peacefully.
Some carryied banners proclaiming "no borders, no nations."
The protesters were in the airport for about one hour, chanting slogans against Germany's immigration policies, before they left.
No flights were disrupted by the gathering, airport officials told CNN.
One asylum seeker from Togo told CNN that he is afraid to return to his country because, as a journalist, he fears retribution from his country's government.
A Frankfurt police spokesman told Reuters that the airport -- continental Europe's busiest with about 150,000 passengers passing through it each day -- was otherwise operating normally with virtually no delays for passengers.
Police said airport authorities closed off the airport to visitors to prevent any disorder by the local group, which has set up a camp near the airport.
There was a large police force at the airport, many wearing riot gear, but police reported no disturbances.
A spokesman for Fraport, the company operating the airport, said it had been closed to visitors as a precautionary measure.
"We are in the middle of a peak travel period and we have to ensure that everything operates on schedule," the spokesman said.
"We do not need to have a demonstration inside the terminal."
He said ticketed passengers only faced brief delays.
About 1,000 activists have gathered at the protest camp organised by a group called No Person is Illegal.
Some 500 took part on Saturday in a peaceful march into Frankfurt, including a rally before the Italian Consulate to protest reported police brutality at the Group of Eight summit in Genoa.
The German government contracts Lufthansa to take home nearly 10,000 rejected asylum seekers a year.
Some are restrained during the flight and escorted by guards.
Deportation using commercial airlines grabbed headlines in Europe following the deaths of several immigrants, including a Sudanese passenger in 1999 on a Lufthansa flight.
Last month, activists temporarily jammed the airline's Website.
According to a report in German news magazine Der Spiegel on Sunday, an expert has concluded that the Sudanese man suffocated because of the force with which three German police officers pinned him in his seat during takeoff.
Previously, the death was attributed to a special helmet meant to cushion his head from thrashing and to prevent him from biting officials.
Lufthansa has said it cannot be held responsible for Germany's asylum policy, which human rights groups charge sometimes sends refugees back to unsafe conditions in their native lands.
Belgium's Sabena airlines decided to stop transporting deportees against their will after a Nigerian died on a Sabena flight in 1998.
Swissair banned flying deportees in manacles after a Palestinian died on a flight last year.
Lufthansa has strengthened its policy of turning down illegals who are bound, helmeted or resisting deportation.
http://www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/07/29/ge rmany.airport/index.html (http://www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/07/29/germany.airport/index.html)
[ 29 July 2001: Message edited by: Airbubba ]