A German police special unit stands near
a helicopter during an exercise ahead of the G8 summit on the beach in
Kuehlungsborn June 5, 2007. Leaders from the world's major industrialised
nations meet in the Baltic resort of Heiligendamm on June 6-8 for a Group
of Eight (G8) summit. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo
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HEILIGENDAMM, Germany, June 5 (Xinhua) -- For the
8,000 residents of Kuehlungsborn, a German Baltic resort, life is much different
these days as the usually quiet town has been flooded with more than 4,000
journalists and 1,000 policemen.
With just one day to go before the summit of the
Group of Eight (G8) industrialized nations starts, the venue of the annual
gathering -- Heiligendamm, which is just 8 km away from Kuehlungsborn, was
blockaded by policemen a few days ago.
Most of the journalists covering the event are
confined to Kuehlungsborn, with strictly limited access to Heiligendamm.
According to German media reports, the German
government has mobilized more than 16,000 policemen to be stationed around
Heiligendamm in a bid to have a perfect G8 summit. A 12-km steel fence have been
built around the venue.
With helicopters hovering around the area routinely,
Kuehlungsborn residents are experiencing a brand-new life.
"Many residents began to travel to other areas on
vacation several weeks ago for fear of possible violence stemmed from
anti-globalization protests," said Heinz Kosste, 70, who has been living in the
town more than 40 years.
Local government leaders, who have tried
unsuccessfully to cut down the region's high jobless rate of around 18 percent,
had expected that foreign tourists would flock to Kuehlungsborn because of the
G8 summit. But Kosste said it remained a doubt as riots which occurred during
the anti-globalization protests in nearby Rostock earlier this week have been
the dominating picture prior to the annual event.
"Kuehlungsborn is a beautiful sea resort, but many
people don't know that," he said.
On Saturday, demonstrations in Rostock, 25 km from
Heiligendamm, turned into riots with more 400 police officers and around 1,000
protestors injured in the port city. Cars were burned and windows smashed.
Some 500 protesters demonstrated against the arrival
of U.S. President George W. Bush in Rostock Tuesday afternoon, with one of the
banners reading "No to U.S. Imperialism."
The summer is colder than normal years here, with few
tourists coming to visit the scenic spot, except the 4,000-plus journalists.
Joerg Schoof, who makes a living by renting chairs on
the beach, said that although the "chilly" weather has to blame for the lack of
tourists, lots of travelers had obviously been distracted by possible riots
during the summit.
Nevertheless, Schoof said it is good to see the
world's major leaders hold discussion on issues of common concern, especially
climate change and African development.
The three-day G8 summit, which concludes on Friday,
is expected to focus on climate change, the development in Africa, the Doha
Round of the World Trade Organization, the U.S. plan of deploying a missile
defense shield in Central Europe.
The leaders may also talk about Iran's nuclear
program and the security situation in the Middle East.
The G8 groups Britain, Canada, France, Germany,
Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.
Besides talks among themselves, the leaders of the
world's major economic powers are scheduled to have two outreach sessions, one
with five major developing countries -- Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South
Africa, and the other with African countries -- Algeria, Ethiopia, Egypt, Ghana,
Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa.
BEIJING, May 31 (Xinhua) -- At the invitation of German
Chancellor Angela Merkel and Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf, Chinese President Hu
Jintao will attend the outreach session of the G-8 Summit held in Germany and
pay a state visit to Sweden from June 6 to 10.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu made the
announcement at a regular press conference on Thursday. Full story
HEILIGENDAMM, Germany, June 5 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President
George W. Bush arrived in northern German city Rostock on Tuesday to attend the
June 6-8 summit of the Group of Eight (G8) industrialized nations.
After his plane landed in the Rostock-Laage Airport in
northern Germany, he took a helicopter to the German Baltic resort of
Heiligendamm, the venue of the G8 summit and 40 km north of Rostock. Full story
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