The G7 summit brings together from Sunday June 26 the leaders of the seven most developed countries in Elmau, in the German Alps. As in each edition, the anti-globalizationists moved...

Protesters against the G7 summit in Germany fewer than usual

Demonstrators against the holding of the G7 summit march through the streets of Munich, June 25, 2022. © Lukas Barth / Reuters

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The G7 summit brings together from Sunday June 26 the leaders of the seven most developed countries in Elmau, in the German Alps.

As in each edition, the anti-globalizationists moved to denounce the meeting.

But the mobilization is much weaker than at previous summits, in particular with a few thousand demonstrators in Munich this Saturday, instead of the 20,000 expected.

However, security around the event remains impressive.

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With our special correspondent in Munich,

Pascal Thibaut

The important thing is global security, peace and the climate but we know they don't care

", announces a voice on the microphone: on the place where Oktoberfest is usually held, the tone was more assertive than for the Oktoberfest.

Autonomous Marxist-Leninist groups in black and other groups denouncing imperialism

rejected the G7 meeting altogether

A retiree forced to work to survive wore a t-shirt with the slogan "

I don't care

": "

It's too much money, two days of doing

'blah-blah'

and I don't think they change something

,” she said in French about the two-day G7 meeting.

The 15 NGOs which organized the demonstration like Greenpeace or Attac advocate a more constructive opposition.

Lisa Jöcke works for Action Against Hunger: “

The G7 is a group of countries that has no official agenda to make decisions about society globally.
It is an important group, but it is not legitimate.

Action Against Hunger, like other NGOs, accompanied the preparations for the G7 and submitted its proposals to Chancellor Olaf Scholz last month.

But the mobilization is noticeably

weaker than in the past

35,000 people took part in a similar demonstration seven years ago in Munich.

Only a few thousand, rather hard-line activists, have mobilized today, rather than ordinary citizens.

Impressive security measures despite declining mobilization

In 2015, in the same place, in the idyllic setting of the Bavarian Alps,

the G7, chaired at the time by Chancellor Angela Merkel

at Elmau Castle, offered the Chancellor a perfect backdrop.

Isolated in the mountains, the site is easy to protect.

But the security measures remain impressive this year.

A barrier of 13 kilometers and up to three meters high has been installed to deter sports disruptors.

18,000 police officers are mobilized.

All this at an increased cost compared to 2015: 180 million euros.

Access to the region is complicated.

Border controls have been put in place, the area cannot be flown over.

The anti-globalizationists were still able to set up a camp with 750 people 18 kilometers away, in the ski resort of Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

But they are well guarded.

The 1936 Olympic site has been transformed into a judicial city with 260 containers where judges are hard at work and cells are ready to receive defendants.

50 demonstrators obtained the right Monday, under good escort, to go around the castle of Elmau to protest briefly.

The number of alter-globalists expected remains minimal this year.

Clashes erupt between the police and anti-G7 demonstrators in Munich on June 25, 2022. The security arrangements for this summit are impressive.

Protesters against the G7 summit in Germany fewer than usual

Protesters against the G7 summit in Germany fewer than usual

Impressive security measures despite declining mobilization

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