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BERLIN - Germany is hurtling towards its biggest face-off since the fall of the Berlin Wall, between anti-globalisation protesters and police at next month's G8 summit.
The streets of Berlin and Hamburg - historical heartlands of the left-wing protest movement - have been witnessing scenes reminiscent of the violent urban battles of the 1980s with a series of car burnings, vandalism attacks and a sharp rise in graffiti. German police are preparing for their biggest deployment since World War II and already the property and cars of prominent business executives have been targeted by more radical protesters.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has issued an appeal for a peaceful protest amid accusations that heavy-handed tactics are being employed by the authorities. Police have been forced into overtime as they build up to the task of protecting the world's leaders, who will descend on the Baltic resort of Heiligendamm on June 6.
The authorities' reaction has been to clamp down in order to prevent Heiligendamm from becoming "another Genoa" - the 2001 G8 where violent clashes left one campaigner dead. A 12-km steel-and-concrete barrier will surround the venue.
"We want to make sure ... participants will be able to meet in a secure atmosphere,' says Germany's Interior Minister, Wolfgang Schauble.
But Germans have been shocked by the extent to which the authorities have been prepared to go, comparing their tactics to those of the East German secret police. Private post has been intercepted, the scents of protesters have been collected - an old trick of the Stasi, who would store the smells of people in jars in case they needed to hunt them down with dogs - and homes and properties across the north have been raided on suspicion that "terrorist attacks" are being planned. In response to the crackdown, it is thought inevitable the handful of militant protesters are likely to become more militant.
The Australian Government has even issued a travel warning to those wanting to go to Germany during the G8 because of the potential for violence.
The anger provoked has led to a handful of staunch conservatives joining the opponents, known collectively as "Block G8". The groups say it is a sure sign the protest movement is becoming more mainstream as the problems brought into focus by the G8 - poverty, the environment and hedge funds - enter the general consciousness.
The former general secretary of the Christian Democratic Union, Heiner Geissler, 77, shocked colleagues when he decided to join the Attac network.
"I am joining Attac because I support the right to demonstrate freely and ... I want to fight for a humane form of globalisation, which is one of the most important tasks of our age," he said.
Geissler has been joined by Norbert Walter, chief economist of the Deutsche Bank. "It is a catastrophe the rich countries protect their weak industries, slamming the door on the noses of the developing countries," he said.
In the Berlin district of Kreuzberg, an area that typifies the German protest movement with large numbers of squatters, anarchists and artistic rebels, G8 protesters gathered in a park last week for instructions into how to "peacefully resist" the security forces.
Watched by plainclothed police, 150 people took part in "Blockade Practice". First, participants are advised a "protester pack" should contain a camping mat, durable trousers, good shoes, water, an energy bar and sun cream. Alcohol and glass bottles are forbidden. Violence is not part of the plan.
They learn to curl themselves up into balls - but quickly learn they can easily be dragged away. Those who become floppy-limbed are far harder to take away. Another tactic to overwhelm a police cordon is the "10-finger tactic", which a young man demonstrates. "We charge the police in a group, then split at the last minute and head in all directions, expecting that individuals will get through," he says.
That way they hope to reach the fence, a steel and barbed-wire barrier stretching around the venue, an elegant hotel complex at the edge of the Baltic. The meeting point is also being protected by two minesweepers, 16,000 police, 11,000 soldiers and several Awacs planes, making it the safest place on earth for more than a week.
For weeks, anger has been voiced at the scale of attempts to keep ordinary people out. Groups have gathered to protest at the fence dressed as bolt cutters, or as the Green party did last week, place life-sized cardboard cut-outs of all eight leaders - from Merkel to Nicolas Sarkozy - at the fence so that they resembled animals in a zoo.
While the G8 does not start until June 6, protests began this week at the EU-Asia summit in Hamburg and will be followed by a demonstration in Rostock on Saturday, where at least 100,000 are expected.
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