Thousands of peace activists protest against the 44th annual Munich Security Conference

On Friday, February 8, and Saturday, February 9, 2008, peace activists gathered in Munich’s Marienplatz, a square in the town center, to protest against the 44th annual Munich Security Conference, which was attended by high-profile diplomats including NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

On Friday, several hundred activists demonstrated in the square, including members of the “black block” dressed in white who had earlier held a “sarcastic happy parade of the capitalist white block for more war, exploitation, and total surveillance.” American Vietnam vet Darnell Stephen Summers of the Stop the War Brigade, spoke to the crowd about the German military’s complicity with the Pentagon.

On Saturday, several thousand protesters gathered in Marienplatz to continue the protests. Americans were well represented at the event by the Munich American Peace Committee, which presented U.S GI war resister Chris Capps with a peace medal. Capps refused deployment to Afghanistan by going AWOL in March of 2007 after completing a tour of duty in Iraq. Two months later, he turned himself in at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma and was discharged from the Army a few days later. He is now living with his wife in Germany and has started a chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War in that country.

The demonstration at Marienplatz was followed by a peaceful march to Odeonsplatz. Approximately 3,700 police monitored the marchers. There were 14 arrests.