Hamburg police raid independent leftist radio
Press Release | Pictures: 1 und 2 | deutsch | russkij
The FSK condemned the raid as interference with press freedom. In a media release the FSK said while a helmeted squad of 100 police closed off the building outside, about 30 barged into the studio rooms. When they left the station after three hours they took with them two files and a protocol book. The release continues:
"In addition, a computer, several sound recordings and other work materials were confiscated in the private home of an FSK journalist. The actions of the police are a flagrant breach of the FSK's broadcasting sovereignty. The ruling of the administrative court of 4.11.03, presented today, gives as the reason "an investigation against an unknow person or persons". Judge Lehmann cites as the reason an allegedly unauthorised interview recording in which police spokesman Ral Kunz was questioned about tow arrests. According to the search warrant, the conversation was recorded without the knowledge of the press spokesman. We are indignant that the usual procedures were not followed, namely to ask us through the Hamburg Institution for New Media Hamburgische Anstalt für Neue Medien, HAM) to hand over the broadcast recording. The police could have had the tape from us long ago through such a request. For 30 male and female police to storm the rooms of the radio straight off is a totally over the top measure, said board member TorstenMichaelsen. The broadcast was already aired on 24 October. The fact that a house search is done a month later shows that the issue here is not a recorded conversation, but an attempt to gain insights into the structures of FSK. We rate this action as an attack on leftist media and free reporting in Hamburg. After the arrest of two FSK journalists in the Bambule reporting last year, this is a new attempt at intimidation, an attempt to criminalize free radio and expression of political opinion against the Schwarz-Schill Senat (Hamburg government). A toughening of this policy is also indicated by the attempt by the police to search rooms of the student representation at the Hamburg School for Economics and Political Science early this month.
The FSK sees another serious breach of press freedom in the radio being prevented from reporting on the police raid while it was happening. One police woman sat behind the presenter to watch that nothing about the action got out.
The FSK leaders are particularly critical of the large number of police deployed. In protest against the house search, 400 demonstrators gathered after it for a spontaneous expression of solidarity. A woman participant reported that the incommensurate number of police in attendance turned the demo into a walking encirclement. At least one person was arrested."
The background
On 20 or 21 October the phone ran in the police press office. Someone from the FSK was calling for information about two people arrested at a demo on 18 October. The conversation was recorded and aired a few days later.
The usual "official channel"
All radio broadcasters in Hamburg are required by law to keep recordings of their broadcasts for three months and make them available on request. If an item is criticised, the Hamburgische Anstalt für neue Medien (HAM) must actually be brought into the dispute. It demands the archived broadcast from the station and the name of the person responsible for it.
The other "official channel"
The public prosecutor's office appears to have wanted to save itself the detour via the HAM and filed for a house search warrant at the administrative court citing breach of confidentiality of the spoken word, or something of the sort. The only purpose was to be to obtain a recording of the incriminated broadcast, which FSK would have had to make available on request, anyway. This could not be a problem because broadcasts aired are truly no secret.
The event
at about 1.15 p.m. officers of the state prosecutor and the police appeared in the rooms of the FSK and showed the only person present a search warrant. It was possible to phone up several other FSK people and a lawyer and ask them to come in. Outside the door to the radio police in combat gear on the shoulder blade had posted themselves.On threatening police orders the broadcasting operation had to continue normally ("probable danger") and the search was not allowed to be mentioned. Behind the back of the person broadcasting sat a police woman to ensure the order was obeyed.
Talks began between the arriving FSK people, the lawyer and the state forces about the execution of the search. As with a request from the HAM, FSK wanted to make available a recording of the broadcast in this case. FSK is not a wealthy broadcaster, however, and regular listeners know that technical problems are not uinknown to FSK. The computer on which the rewcording was stored, promptly crashed and the hotly sought object could not be made available immediately.
After the name of the journalist who has done the interview with the police made himself available and a second journalist said to be responsible for the broadcast had been found, the police moved off, taking with them, however, two office files and the studio book, in which theoretically the respective users of the broadcasting rooms are supposed to be noted.
Wehile this was going on, the home of an FSK journalist was searched. A computer, several sound recordings and other work materials were confiscated.
Solidarity
On the footpath outside the FSK rooms 50 potential listeners quickly gathered to protest against the search. Their number stayed constant until the end of the police action at about 4.30 p.m. The riot police tried throughout to keep traffic flowing smoothly on the shoulder of the road.Around 5 p.m. 150 listeners gathered outside the FSK. After a spontaneous demonstration was to be registered, the police at first responded heedlessly. People were pushed around, police units ran around without a plan, and some officers brutally pushed off his bike a person trying together with others to register the spontaneous demo. They put him in a headlock and pulled him across the street. Despite protests by the many people standing about he was arrested with the usual charge of resisting state authority.
The spontaneous demo with more than 200 participants marched strongly around a block shouting many old and new slogans, like "Cops, snoopers, hands off FSK", "Germany a police state - you make us puke", "House search for a tape - our answer is resistance". Other demos have taken place in the meantime. Police deployed enough officers to make it one on one.
Speculation on the motives of the authorities
Why does the state prosecutor's office not go through the normal, inconspicuous official channels, but prefers to produce huge police deployments and massively violates press freedom? One should just imagine state prosecutors and police searching newspaper offices for an article that a month previously had appeared with the name of the author and the name of the responsible editor in the imprint. Totally over the top, but comparable to what was done to FSK.
FSK is a free radio. It's non-commercial and lives off the contributions of its promotion members. FSK is leftist.
According to the new Hamburg media law, doodle broadcasting is possible. The commercial radios gladly conform "in these difficult times" and the broadcasters' profiles are degrading into an unrecognisable mash. FSK has always been different, culturally and politically. FSK was known for its subjective reporting. Last year it often reported live on various protests and against the centre-right city government. FSK reporters have several times run foul of the police. One arrest at a recent demo even went to air live. It does not appear impossible that this time politicians influenced the investigating authorities. Newspapers of the pro-government Springer corporation months ago were already reporting about the alleged "chaos broadcaster" FSK, which is heard in many police cars because of its topical reporting on demos.
FSK also took an active part in interventions in the public spaces of the city.
"In addition, a computer, several sound recordings and other work materials were confiscated in the private home of an FSK journalist. The actions of the police are a flagrant breach of the FSK's broadcasting sovereignty. The ruling of the administrative court of 4.11.03, presented today, gives as the reason "an investigation against an unknow person or persons". Judge Lehmann cites as the reason an allegedly unauthorised interview recording in which police spokesman Ral Kunz was questioned about tow arrests. According to the search warrant, the conversation was recorded without the knowledge of the press spokesman. We are indignant that the usual procedures were not followed, namely to ask us through the Hamburg Institution for New Media Hamburgische Anstalt für Neue Medien, HAM) to hand over the broadcast recording. The police could have had the tape from us long ago through such a request. For 30 male and female police to storm the rooms of the radio straight off is a totally over the top measure, said board member TorstenMichaelsen. The broadcast was already aired on 24 October. The fact that a house search is done a month later shows that the issue here is not a recorded conversation, but an attempt to gain insights into the structures of FSK. We rate this action as an attack on leftist media and free reporting in Hamburg. After the arrest of two FSK journalists in the Bambule reporting last year, this is a new attempt at intimidation, an attempt to criminalize free radio and expression of political opinion against the Schwarz-Schill Senat (Hamburg government). A toughening of this policy is also indicated by the attempt by the police to search rooms of the student representation at the Hamburg School for Economics and Political Science early this month.
The FSK sees another serious breach of press freedom in the radio being prevented from reporting on the police raid while it was happening. One police woman sat behind the presenter to watch that nothing about the action got out.
The FSK leaders are particularly critical of the large number of police deployed. In protest against the house search, 400 demonstrators gathered after it for a spontaneous expression of solidarity. A woman participant reported that the incommensurate number of police in attendance turned the demo into a walking encirclement. At least one person was arrested."
The background
On 20 or 21 October the phone ran in the police press office. Someone from the FSK was calling for information about two people arrested at a demo on 18 October. The conversation was recorded and aired a few days later.
The usual "official channel"
All radio broadcasters in Hamburg are required by law to keep recordings of their broadcasts for three months and make them available on request. If an item is criticised, the Hamburgische Anstalt für neue Medien (HAM) must actually be brought into the dispute. It demands the archived broadcast from the station and the name of the person responsible for it.
The other "official channel"
The public prosecutor's office appears to have wanted to save itself the detour via the HAM and filed for a house search warrant at the administrative court citing breach of confidentiality of the spoken word, or something of the sort. The only purpose was to be to obtain a recording of the incriminated broadcast, which FSK would have had to make available on request, anyway. This could not be a problem because broadcasts aired are truly no secret.
The event
at about 1.15 p.m. officers of the state prosecutor and the police appeared in the rooms of the FSK and showed the only person present a search warrant. It was possible to phone up several other FSK people and a lawyer and ask them to come in. Outside the door to the radio police in combat gear on the shoulder blade had posted themselves.On threatening police orders the broadcasting operation had to continue normally ("probable danger") and the search was not allowed to be mentioned. Behind the back of the person broadcasting sat a police woman to ensure the order was obeyed.
Talks began between the arriving FSK people, the lawyer and the state forces about the execution of the search. As with a request from the HAM, FSK wanted to make available a recording of the broadcast in this case. FSK is not a wealthy broadcaster, however, and regular listeners know that technical problems are not uinknown to FSK. The computer on which the rewcording was stored, promptly crashed and the hotly sought object could not be made available immediately.
After the name of the journalist who has done the interview with the police made himself available and a second journalist said to be responsible for the broadcast had been found, the police moved off, taking with them, however, two office files and the studio book, in which theoretically the respective users of the broadcasting rooms are supposed to be noted.
Wehile this was going on, the home of an FSK journalist was searched. A computer, several sound recordings and other work materials were confiscated.
Solidarity
On the footpath outside the FSK rooms 50 potential listeners quickly gathered to protest against the search. Their number stayed constant until the end of the police action at about 4.30 p.m. The riot police tried throughout to keep traffic flowing smoothly on the shoulder of the road.Around 5 p.m. 150 listeners gathered outside the FSK. After a spontaneous demonstration was to be registered, the police at first responded heedlessly. People were pushed around, police units ran around without a plan, and some officers brutally pushed off his bike a person trying together with others to register the spontaneous demo. They put him in a headlock and pulled him across the street. Despite protests by the many people standing about he was arrested with the usual charge of resisting state authority.
The spontaneous demo with more than 200 participants marched strongly around a block shouting many old and new slogans, like "Cops, snoopers, hands off FSK", "Germany a police state - you make us puke", "House search for a tape - our answer is resistance". Other demos have taken place in the meantime. Police deployed enough officers to make it one on one.
Speculation on the motives of the authorities
Why does the state prosecutor's office not go through the normal, inconspicuous official channels, but prefers to produce huge police deployments and massively violates press freedom? One should just imagine state prosecutors and police searching newspaper offices for an article that a month previously had appeared with the name of the author and the name of the responsible editor in the imprint. Totally over the top, but comparable to what was done to FSK.
FSK is a free radio. It's non-commercial and lives off the contributions of its promotion members. FSK is leftist.
According to the new Hamburg media law, doodle broadcasting is possible. The commercial radios gladly conform "in these difficult times" and the broadcasters' profiles are degrading into an unrecognisable mash. FSK has always been different, culturally and politically. FSK was known for its subjective reporting. Last year it often reported live on various protests and against the centre-right city government. FSK reporters have several times run foul of the police. One arrest at a recent demo even went to air live. It does not appear impossible that this time politicians influenced the investigating authorities. Newspapers of the pro-government Springer corporation months ago were already reporting about the alleged "chaos broadcaster" FSK, which is heard in many police cars because of its topical reporting on demos.
FSK also took an active part in interventions in the public spaces of the city.
Indymedia ist eine Veröffentlichungsplattform, auf der jede und jeder selbstverfasste Berichte publizieren kann. Eine Überprüfung der Inhalte und eine redaktionelle Bearbeitung der Beiträge finden nicht statt. Bei Anregungen und Fragen zu diesem Artikel wenden sie sich bitte direkt an die Verfasserin oder den Verfasser.
(Moderationskriterien von Indymedia Deutschland)
(Moderationskriterien von Indymedia Deutschland)
Ergänzungen
Reminds Me of Sherman Austin (Raise the Fist)
Austin's real "crime" is that he espoused anarchy. And he put a potentially "dangerous" link on the same site.
America now launches preemptive strikes against its own citizens (prior restraint) as well as perceived foreign enemies.
The climate of repression in Germany and the USA appears to be worse than in the UK. The UK handled massive protests against the Bush political vist much more benignly than the Miami police handled the protest against the FTAA talks. In the UK they sequestered Bush instead of the protesters.