Today was a meeting to resume the summit activities in moscow with around 40 people,
in Piter there are still 4 people in prison.
After everyone who was arrested during the blockade action on Sunday was released already till wednesday morning and all foreigners had to leave the country in 2 days, there are still people in prison who were sentenced befor the summit started. One of them, a Ukrainian boy under the age of 18 (de) was missed for days, it is unclear when police will release him. He was arrested during the raid of the flat with the bycicle activists. Two other Russian people will be released on Tuesday, they were sentenced before the summit started as well.
The fourth person is the one who was beaten up on sunday and went to hospital. Police said he had not been in jail for two days as the court decided so right now after being in hospital for days they want him to stay in prison the time he did not befor, so they will release him tomorrow (saturday) morning.

Legal Team Update July 18 | Erste Strafen in St.Petersburg (17.7.)
Aleksej Jakovlev (de) | Anton Pavljukevich | Mihail Lunkovskij 2 | 3 (de)
Reports from the prisons 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
German and EU parliamentarians contact Russian Embassy
Solidarity action in Tallin

In Gao (Mali) the fifth edition of the People's Forum started as a counterweight to the G8 summit in St Petersburg, Russia. Several hundred people from NGOs and other initiatives meet for three days to raise awareness about the problems faced by poor people in Western Africa. The People's Forum (photos: 1 |2 | 3) is a popular manifestation to educate, exchange, communicate, inform, plan citizens' actions and elaborate alternatives to neoliberal globalization.

This year the conference is devoted to issues such as immigration (fr), plunder of the natural resources of the South or privatization of state-owned enterprises. (For example the water privatisation in Senegal: en | fr)
Mali is the largest producer of cotton in sub-Saharan Africa, and farmers are fighting (fr) for fair trade.

Links: Forum des Peuples (fr) - translations (en/de/es/pt) Penser Pour Agir (fr) | Coalition des Alternatives Africaines (fr) | Liberation Afrique (fr) | Pambazuka News (en/fr) | Press Review (en, pdf)

World Social Forum in Bamako, Mali 2006: fsmmali.org | Indymedia reports the WSF 2006: 1 | 2 | 3

On Sunday, July 16 several protest actions happened in St.Petersburg which led to a big number of arrests.

In the morning around 30 people who are involved in the Network Against G8 (NAG8) blockaded the entrance of a hotel on Nevskij Prospekt which is used by participants of the G8 summit in St. Petersburg. They blockaded the street for a while (fotos), carried banners, distributing leaflets against the policy of G8.

The action had international character as anarchists and anticapitalists from different European cities like St. Petersburg, Moscow, Minsk, Chishinau, Warsaw, Kiev, Cardiff and Berlin took part. Police arrested accredited journalists before actually turning to the activists doing the blockade (report | video 1 | 2). An AP camera person was arrested but later released, a German photographer was brutalised by OMON riot police but could avoid arrest. Maxim Butkevich, a Ukrainian journalist, remains in custody. Activists call for urgent support as there are between 31 and 36 arrested and lawyers are prevented from entering police station no.28, some report abusive treatment. Some of the arrested were taken to the court of Kujbyshevsky district later. Of this group some were sentenced to two or three days of custody, others will have their hearings in the next days [de].

12 other people were arrested during an anti-war picket and taken to police station no.79, 11 of them were released the same day. Six belorussian activists were arrested and physically abused by police for organising a press conference.

Later in the day a Pink-Silver-Clown action was done on the Vassilievsky Island with approx. 100 participants; 30 mostly Russian activists were arrested.

A demonstration to show international solidarity took place in Berlin on Sunday, in Kiev a banner saying '8 Leaders don't equal 8.8 billion people' was hung from a bridge (video) and a protest action happened at the Russian embassy on monday (photos), activists in Strasbourg and London have announced demonstrations against the current arrests for next week.

While the G8 summit prooves yet one more time to be a major display of repression, the fifth edition of the People's Forum started today in Gao, Mali, as a counterweight to the G8 summit in St Petersburg to discuss poverty reduction, migration and hunger relief.

While massive violations of basic freedoms were reported already weeks before the summit of the G8 in St.Petersburg, Russia, as the summit opened more protesters were arrested in Russia.

Almost all demonstrations in the city were either outlawed, effectively prevented by the police or broken by force. Almost a dozen of activists were sentenced to short prison terms (7-10 days) [1|2|3 (de). More arrests and detentions happened in St.Petersburg on July 14 and 15. About 30 people are reported to be arrested in St.Petersburg on July 15 alone. [Summary 1, 2 audio interview en, de].

Nevertheless the people in St.Petersburg are still optimistic, many meetings took place in the last days and activists expect many actions against the summit for the next few days and found the police more relaxed than in the days before likely because of the international press arriving for the summit. [video: Carnival]

Participants of the Russian Social Forum, which was held in St.Petersburg on July 13-15, were not allowed to have a march, although they asked the city hall about it weeks before. Police has blocked them at the Kirov stadium, where the forum was held, and prevented from taking to the streets of the city. About 150 activists held a rally behind closed gates, facing lines of riot police, which outnumbered the activists. [video | report | photos: 1 | 2]

Groups from all around the world call for a Global Day of Action on Friday July 14th "against the G8, for free health care for everyone, education for all, an end to the nuclear age and an end to war". Many people who cannot go to Russia for protest will show solidarity by joining the different actions: "The power of the elites crosses many lines, but our solidarity goes beyond any borders!"

In Russia activists of the radical social movement "FrontAIDs" called for carrying out a day of united actions against pharmaceutical multinational corporations: "People are dying because of the lack of the medical supplies understanding that their death is protected by patents", they said.

People announced protests in London, Sydney, Amsterdam, Paris, Berlin, Washington DC, Manila, Heidelberg [de] and many other cities.
Several actions to support Adivasi resistance were announced in India and Germany.
In Hamburg many groups called for a Reclaim The Streets Day under the slogan: "We are not going to demand anything. We are not going to ask for anything. We are going to take."

A first protest had taken place on July 13th in Gothenburg (SE), and a banner was hung on a bridge in Bristol (UK): "Geldof lied: Live Aid changed nothing! Bristol Solidarity with the Moscow G8 Crashers!". Today, Friday, a G8 solidarity occupation and banner-drop action at the Russian Chamber of Commerce in London (UK) was violently policed and at least two were arrested. Protests in front of Russian embassies took place in Den Haag (NL), Salzburg (AT), Berlin, Bonn (DE), Sydney (AUS) and Minsk (BY). Activists in Traunstein, Frankfurt/Main, Hamburg 2 3, Oldenburg, Rosenheim, Bremen, Heidelberg&Mannheim, Hannover, Zittau, Erfurt, Dresden (DE), Cardiff (UK), Zug am See (CH), Paris (F), Warsaw (PL) and Madrid 1 | 2 (ES) also protested against the policies of the G8. In Kiew the group "The world is not a commodity" did a performance [[en] | [ru]] (pictures). A part of inner-city Lüneburg (DE) was privatised. In Amsterdam (pictures)(NL) and Manchester there were bike-demos. In Berlin, Mannheim and Heidelberg (DE) there were also protests in solidarity with the situation of activists in Kashipur, India.

A list of announced actions on the PGA website | PGA collection | Climate Action Day - Reports
Global Day Of Action during G8 Summit in Scotland 2005

While Russian president Putin presented himself as the perfect democrat at the NGO-Forum Civil G8 last week repression hits hard on activists all over Russia.

Twelve members of the environmental group Eco-Defense dared to express their opinion against nuclear power visibly at the NGO meeting ten days before the summit and barely escaped arrest when Putin told his security forces to withdraw while international guests, as well as media were watching (report on BBC). They as well as everybody else who is only vaguely suspected of wanting to participate in any action that expresses dissent with the politics of the G8 now have to pay the price. The registered demonstration of the Russian Social Forum (RSF) is forbidden. Already on Monday seven eco-activists were arrested in St Petersburg. The local group from Kaliningrad was not even allowed to leave at all. The RSF reports that all over Russia activists are being intimidated, beaten and arrested.
Two German members of a bike caravan that had just arrived from Berlin were arrested in the streets of St Petersburg and sentenced to ten days confinement, a fate they now share with several Russian and one Swiss activist who did as little as carry leaflets. [DE]

Latest Advice by the Legal Team resembles warnings before going into a war zone. International activists are now trying to contact lawyers, members of parliament and media - things that so far have happened after protests against previous summits. LINK, the Libertarian News and Information Collective of the Anti-G8 Network (SPB8) reports numerous breaches of human rights and calls for international attention. Another call was issued by the Trade Union Solidarity Action Committee.

Despite all of this, the Libertarian Forum took place in Moscow with participants from England, Wales, Finland, Ukraine, Poland, Germany and Russia [reports: [en] 1 | 2 | [de] 1 | 2]. A first Pink-Silver-Samba-Clown action happened in Moscow on Monday (pictures | LINK statement). In St Petersburg eco-activists protested against the import of nuclear waste on Tuesday morning. All were arrested and expect fifteen days administrative arrest in a hearing, now postponed until Thursday.

Previously, in June, the front of the Russian embassy in Madrid was covered with red paint.

From 15–17 July, the G8 will meet in Strelna, a suburb of St Petersburg, Russia.

While the situaitons for protest in Russia is very different (Interview) from the UK during the G8 in Gleneagles, the "Network against the G8" calls for protest against the summit and invites people from around the world to come to Russia.

Russian authorities have already tried to show strength against possible protests (see police repression against gay/lesbian demo in May and repression reported by Network Against G8 ‭activists.

A cycle caravan has already started from Berlin to St Petersburg (reports and photos). There will be a Libertarian Forum in Moscow from 8–12 July as a build up event for protests in St Petersburg. The main issues of the forum will be energy issues, and G8 plans for a nuclear-power renaissance.

On 14 July there is a call for a Global Day of Action. In many cities of the world there will be protests against the neo-liberal politics of the G8. There are actions announced for Washington DC, Manchester, Berlin, Hamburg, Manila and many other cities.

In Mali, the "forum des peuples" will take place from 15–17 July.

Environmental groups call for an action day for Radical Ecological Action Against Climate Change on 15 July.

During the days of the summit there will be a social forum in St Petersburg and a convergence space in the Kirov stadium (with an autonomous space).

See the protest calendar for details.

More Info: Info Bulletin #2 | Travel Info | Moscow Survival Guide
Links: spb8.net | g8-2006.plentyfact.net | nog8.ru | ru.indymedia.org
International mailing list: http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/g8-2006