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Hundreds Protest in Hamburg as G-20 Begins | Hundreds Protest in Hamburg as G-20 Begins |
(35 minutes later) | |
Right Now: World leaders are gathering in Hamburg, Germany, for the Group of 20 summit meeting. | Right Now: World leaders are gathering in Hamburg, Germany, for the Group of 20 summit meeting. |
• Several high-profile issues are on the agenda of the gathering, which gets underway midmorning:climate change, global trade, North Korea, Syria and Ukraine. Leaders will also be meeting in smaller groups. | |
• Protesters are expected to turn out in force, and they offered a taste on Thursday of what is likely to come: 12,000 people converged for a demonstration called “Welcome to Hell.” | |
• The summit meeting will bring together the world’s most powerful leaders, but the focus is likely to be on one particular face-to-face encounter: between President Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir V. Putin. | |
• Mr. Trump met on Thursday with the Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany. The 40-minute discussion itself was uneventful, but that was the goal, given their differing styles and worldviews (and they sorted out the handshake). | |
• Mr. Trump wants the United States to wield its economic dominance to dictate the rules of global trade, but other countries seem unwilling to follow. As if to make that point, the European Union and Japan agreed on Thursday to the outlines of a trade deal that would diminish opportunities for American companies. | |
Hamburg awoke to the buzz of helicopters and the wailing of sirens as police officers rushed to keep up with hundreds of protesters who had gathered at major crossings in the city early Friday, in an effort to block the routes G-20 leaders were to take to the convention center. | |
“We remind you that gatherings in the transit corridors will not be tolerated,” the police said in a message on Twitter. Video footage from Hamburg showed the authorities using water cannons to prevent the protesters from advancing. | “We remind you that gatherings in the transit corridors will not be tolerated,” the police said in a message on Twitter. Video footage from Hamburg showed the authorities using water cannons to prevent the protesters from advancing. |
Demonstrations Thursday night turned violent after the police moved in to separate a group wearing balaclavas and masks — which German law forbids during public protests — in a section of the 12,000 people who filled the streets outside of the security perimeter. | |
Police officers said they had been hit with bottles and stones, and that they had responded with water cannon and pepper spray. Protesters said they had been provoked by officers dressed in riot gear and wielding billy clubs. Seventy-six officers were wounded, and five needed to be hospitalized, including a helicopter pilot who had been blinded by a laser. Organizers of the demonstration said “many” participants had been injured, but gave no details. — Melissa Eddy | |
The meeting later Friday between Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin is not officially the main event at the G-20, but for many, it might as well be. | |
Mr. Trump delivered a mixed message on Russia while in Warsaw, issuing his sharpest criticism of Moscow since taking office. He called on Russia to “cease its destabilizing activities in Ukraine,” denounced its support for “hostile regimes,” including Syrian and Iran, and offered unqualified for support for the collective defense principle of NATO (something he was unwilling to do during his first trip to Europe as president in May). | Mr. Trump delivered a mixed message on Russia while in Warsaw, issuing his sharpest criticism of Moscow since taking office. He called on Russia to “cease its destabilizing activities in Ukraine,” denounced its support for “hostile regimes,” including Syrian and Iran, and offered unqualified for support for the collective defense principle of NATO (something he was unwilling to do during his first trip to Europe as president in May). |
At the same time, he broke with American intelligence agencies by saying he was not entirely convinced that Russia was solely responsible for interference in the 2016 election. | At the same time, he broke with American intelligence agencies by saying he was not entirely convinced that Russia was solely responsible for interference in the 2016 election. |
In Moscow, there is the sense that Mr. Putin will be able to outwit and outposition the American leader and come out on top. “It is a win-win situation for Putin,” said Andrei V. Kolesnikov, a political analyst at the Carnegie Moscow Center, but it’s not all clear sailing for Mr. Putin. Most notably, it is unclear what he has to offer in exchange for American cooperation. | In Moscow, there is the sense that Mr. Putin will be able to outwit and outposition the American leader and come out on top. “It is a win-win situation for Putin,” said Andrei V. Kolesnikov, a political analyst at the Carnegie Moscow Center, but it’s not all clear sailing for Mr. Putin. Most notably, it is unclear what he has to offer in exchange for American cooperation. |
Mr. Trump, who is expected to face a tense set of meetings in Hamburg, seemed to have awakened Friday morning pining for his relatively peaceful visit to Warsaw, where a cheering crowd of Polish right-wing party loyalists applauded his speech. | |
In a tweet Friday morning, Mr. Trump said he had had a “great” meeting Thursday night with Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, with whom he has had a difficult relationship, and whose positions on climate change and liberalized trade clash with his own. | |
And he said the same of his dinner with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan and President Moon Jae-in of South Korea, at which the leaders talked privately about responding to North Korea’s latest provocations. — Julie Hirschfeld Davis |