Interrogations - anno V - n. 13 - gennaio 1978

ALFRED MARQUART attached to them in order to breach a gap on the opposite shore. While doing this they were constantly exposed to police tear gas and high pressure water hoses. I could see that the police were often throwing tear gas bombs high over the heads of the demonstrators and into the midst of passing pedestrians behind, thereby seriously 1ndangering women and children. They were obviously throwing them in a random fashion, purposefully putting everyone around them in danger. If some courageous young men had not immediately thrown back some of the smoking bombs or destroyed them in some other manner, even more peaceful demonstrators would have been injured. "We had planned to reach Brokdorf by way of the dike in order to be able to start on our way home directily afterwards. This turned out to be impossible, however, because thick clouds of tear gas barred the way. We made several attempts to return to Brokdorf by this route, but to no avail. As dusk fell, more and more people gathered on the asphalt road along the construction site. Some young people had succeded in securing a position on the other side by cutting holes in the wire fence. The police continued to throw tear gas and aim their hoses at random, often hitting distant passers-by. At around 6 o'clock, I lost sight of my wife because of the increasing darkness. A great many people had now begun the long trek back from Brokdorf to the crossroads, and this is where some of the most hideously cruel events took place. This is what appened to my wife: "She had walked about 400 meters along the Brokdorf road on her way home. A helicopter which had been flying back and forth swooped down to about 10 m. altitude above the heads of the passers-by and remained there. It flashed its lights on the people below and born barded them with tear gas so that the wind blew the gas directly into their faces. "But that wasn't all. A chain of policemen now suddenly met the demonstrators who where walking away from the site and began to beat them up in a totally uncontrolled fashion. My wife had expected nothing of the kind and continued walking toward the policemen. Suddenly one of them jumped at her and beat her up quite mercilessly. She raised up her hands in defense, but to no avail, for she then received a blow on her head causing a 10 cm.-long puncture wound. She was afraid of falling and of getting caught under the policemen's boots, so she pushed her way off to 60

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