WASHINGTON, Jan. 31 (UPI) -- German authorities are preparing for violence by 100,000 anti-globalization protesters at the G-8 summit in June, following a wave of vandalism.
The head of Germany's domestic intelligence agency, Heinz Fromm, told Focus news magazine at the weekend that authorities were on the alert following a wave of vandalism and other attacks by leftist and anarchist militants organizing against the summit.
Just last month, the hotel where the G-8 leaders will meet June 6-8 in the Baltic Sea resort of Heiligendamm, just north of Berlin, was paint bombed; and there were arson attacks on the home and car of the German deputy finance minister, Thomas Mirow, in Hamburg to protest his role in organizing the event.
The magazine said police have reported 37 attacks by anti-summit militants in recent months.
One German security official not authorized to speak to the media told United Press International that the tempo of such attacks would likely rise in the months leading up to the summit.
"The intensity is going to rise," he said, adding that while authorities were confident security measures could keep both protesters and terrorists out of the event itself, "the real concern is what happens at the perimeter, and outside it."
German authorities plan to deploy 15,000 police and soldiers to ensure security at Heiligendamm, and anticipate up to 100,000 protesters, German media reports say.
Authorities have also begun work on a $17 million fence, topped with coils of razor-wire and baked with infra-red sensors and closed-circuit TV cameras, to block the seaside resort off from the land. The fence will run into the sea, to prevent protesters from wading past it.
