Ya Basta! train has arrived
Dan Anchorman | 25.09.2000 14:33
About 1200 mainly Italian protesters have arrived in Prague after 19-hour border dispute with Czech authorities. Reports of riot police intimdation and "black list" arrest sheets.
1200 people aboard a train which had been stopped at the Czech-Austrian border for about 19 hours arrived in Prague this morning at around 2am. Protesters from groups across Italy, including Ya Basta!, explained that Czech border police had initially tried to arrest four people on board the specially commissioned train which had collected passengers in Naples, Rome, Milan and Venice.
The train had passed without delay through Italy and Austria but encountered difficulties in the Czech Republic when officers dressed in riot-gear attempted to arrest four people whose names had appeared on a "black list".
Fellow activists challenged the action by forming a defensive human chain to ensure that poilce officers were unable to remove the four people. A 19-hour diplomatic wrangle which involved staff from the Italian embassy then unfolded and the four people declared "persona non gratis" by the Czech authorities are currently still at the border.
Paola, a young Italian woman from Padova who had been travelling on the train, explained that the Czech Interior Ministry had failed to respond to any requests for discussions with Italian embassy staff. It is understood that the four are hoping to travel to the Italian embassy by car in order that they may not set foot on Czech territory and are hoping to enlist the support of the Italian embassy in Prague to achieve this goal in order to address the issues of why and how the border situation and "black list" has been able to affect people's democratic right to protest.
Eugenio, also from Padova, added that a further 16 people had been stopped from leaving Italy because they did not have current passports or valid travel permits - these included people from Iran, Morocco and Tunisia. "In Europe 2000 we didn't expect this to happen", he said.
Louis, a student at the University of Glasgow who is currently living in Turin in Italy, had also travelled on the train and he explained that the border dispute had left him feeling exhausted and intimidated. He explained that at one point police in full riot gear with gas masks surrounded the train. He explained that these actions created a sense of confusion and anxiety on board the train.
When told of the mass spontaneous actions today in which several thousand people marched through Prague demanding that the train be allowed to enter without further delay several people expressed delight. "Solidarity really counters the crappy experience we've just had and the intimidation we've had to endure".
Outside the Smichovske Nadrazi station in south Prague several medical teams were waiting alongside trams and a handful of buses to ferry the exhausted crowds to the campsite in nearby Velky Strahovsky stadium.
Medical teams from SAINT - a pan-European international relief agency - had been practising in facilities located 6 kilometres outside Prague when they were requested to join Czech emergency services in distributing water, cake and emergency medical treatment. Tired and hungry protesters leaving the station were clearly appreciative.
The train had passed without delay through Italy and Austria but encountered difficulties in the Czech Republic when officers dressed in riot-gear attempted to arrest four people whose names had appeared on a "black list".
Fellow activists challenged the action by forming a defensive human chain to ensure that poilce officers were unable to remove the four people. A 19-hour diplomatic wrangle which involved staff from the Italian embassy then unfolded and the four people declared "persona non gratis" by the Czech authorities are currently still at the border.
Paola, a young Italian woman from Padova who had been travelling on the train, explained that the Czech Interior Ministry had failed to respond to any requests for discussions with Italian embassy staff. It is understood that the four are hoping to travel to the Italian embassy by car in order that they may not set foot on Czech territory and are hoping to enlist the support of the Italian embassy in Prague to achieve this goal in order to address the issues of why and how the border situation and "black list" has been able to affect people's democratic right to protest.
Eugenio, also from Padova, added that a further 16 people had been stopped from leaving Italy because they did not have current passports or valid travel permits - these included people from Iran, Morocco and Tunisia. "In Europe 2000 we didn't expect this to happen", he said.
Louis, a student at the University of Glasgow who is currently living in Turin in Italy, had also travelled on the train and he explained that the border dispute had left him feeling exhausted and intimidated. He explained that at one point police in full riot gear with gas masks surrounded the train. He explained that these actions created a sense of confusion and anxiety on board the train.
When told of the mass spontaneous actions today in which several thousand people marched through Prague demanding that the train be allowed to enter without further delay several people expressed delight. "Solidarity really counters the crappy experience we've just had and the intimidation we've had to endure".
Outside the Smichovske Nadrazi station in south Prague several medical teams were waiting alongside trams and a handful of buses to ferry the exhausted crowds to the campsite in nearby Velky Strahovsky stadium.
Medical teams from SAINT - a pan-European international relief agency - had been practising in facilities located 6 kilometres outside Prague when they were requested to join Czech emergency services in distributing water, cake and emergency medical treatment. Tired and hungry protesters leaving the station were clearly appreciative.
Dan Anchorman