Background Report 6 November 9th

The weather is getting colder -- already the first wet snow has fallen. The police are flexing their muscles in preparation for the "big event", by unprovoked intimidation of the populace: storming uninvited into farmyards, threatening children with unleashed dogs, bullying slow motorists by bright lights and "tailgateing"

A peaceful kick-off demonstration today at Gorleben drew a crowd of at least 3,000, in spite of a cold, windy rain. Most of the demonstrators had to walk five miles from the nearest parking possibility.

Maps of Wendland

You´ll need detailed maps of Wendland in order to follow the Diary reports. Good

ones can be found at www.oneworldweb.de/castor/nix7/karten.htm Click on any of the series to get enlargements.

Not All the Police Are in Uniform This Year!

A large group of police have been reported living in a holiday camp in a forest near Bad Bevenson in the County of Uelzen, some 30 miles from Wendland. There may be more than a hundred residents at this camp. They are mostly in civilian clothes, and are very secretive. According to their car license plates, they seem to come from Bad Düben in the County of Delitzsch, State of Sachsen (Eastern Germany). This is only one group -- there seem to be a lot of disguised police this year. Often they can even be seen driving in police vehicles, but often they use their own cars. Vehicles with registrations from all over Germany are now crowding the roads. In summer we would welcome so many out-of-town people as tourists -- but in November? This seems to be a new tactic, and we wonder --will these "winter tourists" somehow become aggresive and give our peaceful Wendland a bad name?