Скачать или смотреть USA: NEW YORK: HUMAN RIGHTS DEMONSTRATION AT GERMAN CONSULATE

(8 Jul 1997) German/Eng/Nat
The German Consulate in New York was besieged on Monday by two groups of demonstrators protesting against what they say are human rights violations.
Church of Scientology members called on the German government to end alleged investigations and discrimination against it.
Meanwhile, another group demanded Germany withdraw its request for the extradition of Roisin McAliskey, the daughter of Bernadette Devlin McAliskey, a well-known campaigner for human rights in Northern Ireland and a former member of the British Parliament.
Scores of angry members of the Church of Scientology protesting outside the German Consulate.
They say Germany's Office for the Protection of the Constitution has decided to place their church under surveillance.
The Scientologists are convinced the new surveillance will subject the group to spying and harassment by German officials.
The Scientologists said there are some 30-thousand Scientologists in Germany and the religion has thrived there for more than 25 years.
None-the-less, Scientology is still not accepted as an official religion by the state so the group is denied certain tax advantages afforded official religions.
Reverend John Carmichael views the latest surveillance measures as just another form of human rights abuses committed by the German government against his Church.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
\"We're doing this protest because of the most recent examples of the atrocities committed by the German government against individual Scientologists in Germany. In particular, the German government has put down the office for the protection of the constitution a group that could open mail, tap phones and infiltrate government agencies into our churches.
SUPER CAPTION: Reverend John Carmichael, Church of Scientology
But the legal head of the Consulate said the Scientologists were protected by the nation's judicial system.
SOUNDBITE: (German)
\"Concerning Scientology, you know in Germany it's like the United States, every citizen has the right to challenge the legality of government decisions by an independent court and as far as I've heard about that the Scientology group has made ample use of that.\"
SUPER CAPTION: Reiner Morell Head of Legal Department, German Consulate
The Scientologists shared their protest space with a group called the Friends of Roisin McAliskey who carried placards bearing a photo of McAliskey, who is currently on bail from a British prison.
The daughter of Bernadette Devlin McAliskey, a well-known former Member of Parliament who has campaigned for human rights in Northern Ireland, is wanted for questioning in Germany after an Irish Republic Army mortar attack on a British military base in Osnabruck, two years ago.
The activists want the extradition warrant dropped immediately saying that it is based on bogus evidence.
If McAliskey is extradited, the group fears she'll be imprisoned for several years before her trial.
It demanded a boycott of German goods until the extradition is dropped.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
\"This demonstration is to protest the German government's attempt to extradite Roisin McAliskey, the daughter of Bernadette Devlin, to face a totally fraudulent charge in Germany where she could spend up to two years in a German prison cell without even
coming to trial.\"
SUPER CAPTION: Sandy Boyer, Friends of Roisin McAliskey
SOUNDBITE: (German)
SUPER CAPTION: Reiner Morell, Head of Legal Department, German Consulate
The group poured bottles of the beer down the sewer outside the consulate.

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