Crackdown on Dissent: From Germany to Genoa

As the Italian government heightens security in Genoa for the upcoming G-8 summit, other nations, including Germany and the Czech Republic, are instituting draconian reforms to halt the burgeoning anti-corporate globalization movement.

Over the past month the German government has established a database to track over 2,000 activists involved in the anti-globalization movement, according to a report in today's Muenchner Merkur, a German newspaper.

The database was built to "make it difficult for politically motivated activists to leave the country shortly before high-ranking conferences such as the upcoming G-8 summit in Genoa."

Two weeks ago Czech officials also released a report urging increased surveillance and intelligence on international protesters.

"Extremism is a transnational phenomenon at present and there are intensive contacts between domestic and foreign extremists," the report read as translated by the BBC. "The Czech police should react to this trend and should use as much as possible international cooperation in this area. They should start discussing regular contacts and exchanges of lists of extremists."

Such lists would help bar more foreign protests from entering the nation, according to the BBC. Under Czech law, police may prohibit entry to any individual believed to threaten state security, public order or the rights and freedom of others.

Clampdowns at borders in Europe and other temporary security measures have become far more common due to the recent string of anti-corporate globalization protests.

With an estimated 100,000 to 150,000 protesters expected to attend, this weekend's protest in Genoa may be the largest since the 1999 demonstration in Seattle against the World Trade Organization

In preparation,, Italy has suspended the 11-nation Schengen treaty, meaning passports will be checked for all foreigners, including Europeans. Already protesters, including a group yesterday from Switzerland, have been barred entry to Italy.

In protest, a group of 100 Swiss activists attempted to block a train heading from the Swiss border into Italy last night. After the train was delayed one hour, Swiss police attacked the protesters firing tear gas and rubber bullets into the crowd.

Protesters planning to travel by train also face major obstacles as the Italian government plans to close Genoa's two main train stations.

Other security measures include a ground-to-air anti-missile battery set up at the Christopher Columbus airport; 12 helicopters and four reconnaissance aircraft in the skies; the U.S. warship Enterprise and submarines in Genoa bay; and 18,000 police and soldiers in the streets.

Also, the Irish Times reported that all cellphone transmissions will be blocked near summit headquarters at Palazzo Ducale due to fears that a phone could be used to detonate a bomb.

Local residents, such as Don Andrea Gallo, a priest who sympathizes with the protesters, says it is like nothing they have ever seen.

"They have turned the city into a war zone," Gallo told the UK Independent. "I lived here under the Nazis as a young resistance fighter. Then there was a curfew, but there was never this oppressive militarized situation."