Germany keeps Stasi-stlye scent tabs on G8 protesters
German authorities are using scent tracking to keep tabs on possibly violent protesters against next month’s Group of Eight summit – a tactic that is drawing comparisons with the methods of former East Germany’s secret police.
Scent samples have been taken from an undisclosed number of people believed to be a possible danger to the upcoming summit so police dogs can pick out the perpetrators if there is violence, the Hamburger Morgenpost reported today.
Andreas Christeleit, a spokesman for federal prosecutors, confirmed the report but would give no further details. “This has happened to several suspects,” he said.
Scent samples were widely taken by the East German secret police, the Stasi, who used the technique to track dissidents.
Petra Pau, a politician with the opposition Left Party, a group that includes ex-communists, blasted the practice as “another step away from a democratic state of law toward a preventive security state”.
Violence has marred past summits, particularly in 2001 in Genoa, Italy, when police and protesters clashed in the streets for days.
German authorities are increasing security before the June 6-8 summit in the northern resort town of Heiligendamm.
