On Thursday, massive protests began against the G20 Summit held in Hamburg, Germany. The organized effort, dubbed “Welcome to Hell” was in opposition to the meeting of 20 major nations’ leaders coming together, including President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladamir Putin.
Thousands of people took to the streets in an attempt to block the routes of the leaders planning to attend the meetings from reaching their designated arrival point. Vehicles and trash bins were set on fire overnight toward this end, and police used water cannons against protesters in order to quell the dissent.
From the New York Times:
“The police presence was enormous near the convention center. In black riot gear including helmets, padding and sometimes face masks, the police stood in small groups in a quiet face-off with civilians who might or might not have been demonstrators. The authorities have said that 20,000 police officers would be deployed.”
Though Trump and Putin still met, and the G20 summit continued mostly as planned, the conservative media attempted to denigrate the protesters by sharing a news story that first lady Melania Trump had been forced to stay at her hotel rather than attend on Friday because of the protests.
Poor, poor Melania.
Elsewhere outside the sphere of the Trump controversy, German Leader Angela Merkel, who led the summit, explained just how important these 20 world leaders are.
From the New York Times:
“Those in the room represent two-thirds of the world’s population, four-fifths of the world’s gross domestic product and three-quarters of the world’s trade, she said, and the rest of the world expected results.”
