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 that police dogs can pick out the perpetrators if there is violence, the Hamburger Morgenpost reported Tuesday.
While this is certainly a trend to keep our eyes on, I do not see any immediate danger. Unlike a repressive nation such as China or Russia (where such protestors tend to be machine-gunned, though the left-wing protestors don't like to mention that), Germany has proved that they are a nation governed by law. So though there is certainly a risk of repression in such techniques, I will withold judgement, as the protestors' violent tactics in the past have earned this for them.
