Barcelona General Assembly attacked!
Emma Hoffman | 24.06.2001 17:03
We have just come from a general assembly of about 300 people held in the plaza behind the museum of contemporary art. Due to the forceful police attacks, we were reconsidering whether we should stick with the original plans of the popular trial of the World Bank, followed by a festival, or if we should come up with an alternative.
Just as the assembly was ending, 6 vans full of riot police suddenly appeared, charged at the meeting, and shot plastic bullets. Many in the crowd took refuge inside the museum´s cafe, while others ran across the plaza and then realized that there was no exit. The police then charged at the cafe, and fired plastic bullets into the cafe, smashing the enormous glass door in the process.
The crowd then held up their empty hands and walked towards the police, who then partially retreated. After several minutes of negotiation, under the watchful eyes of a camera crew from Catalunya's main television station, the police returned to their vans, and left the area.
The meeting resumed, and a decision has now been made to go to La Rambla, the main walking street and tourist area, and go ahead with the plan for the festival. A tour bus outfitted with sound system, video projections, and a roof-mounted stage will accompany us.
As we write in the indymedia center, we are treated to the stinging smell, not of tear gas (which we personally have yet to smell or hear reports of), but of chopped onions, as a group prepares the enormous free meal for the festival.
A report has just come in that the venue for the festival has moved from La Rambla to outside the jail, where at least 15 demonstrators are being held.
We expect this night to be even hotter, stickier and longer than most Barcelona summer nights.
Just as the assembly was ending, 6 vans full of riot police suddenly appeared, charged at the meeting, and shot plastic bullets. Many in the crowd took refuge inside the museum´s cafe, while others ran across the plaza and then realized that there was no exit. The police then charged at the cafe, and fired plastic bullets into the cafe, smashing the enormous glass door in the process.
The crowd then held up their empty hands and walked towards the police, who then partially retreated. After several minutes of negotiation, under the watchful eyes of a camera crew from Catalunya's main television station, the police returned to their vans, and left the area.
The meeting resumed, and a decision has now been made to go to La Rambla, the main walking street and tourist area, and go ahead with the plan for the festival. A tour bus outfitted with sound system, video projections, and a roof-mounted stage will accompany us.
As we write in the indymedia center, we are treated to the stinging smell, not of tear gas (which we personally have yet to smell or hear reports of), but of chopped onions, as a group prepares the enormous free meal for the festival.
A report has just come in that the venue for the festival has moved from La Rambla to outside the jail, where at least 15 demonstrators are being held.
We expect this night to be even hotter, stickier and longer than most Barcelona summer nights.
Emma Hoffman
Comments
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Frontline reports
24.06.2001 20:53
The day has been charcterised by skirmishes and extreme force from the police. Quite a few people have decided they have had enough and have called it a day I think. It is very good that we have been able to regroup etc, given police tactics. When we were able to push lines back and the police on other side of square were attacked with bottles was empowering.
See more reports on our website.
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policing the world of dissent
25.06.2001 22:47
I am lucky enough have access to the reports from Barcelona and the attacks by the police of peaceful meetings. Somebody prove to me that this is not a part of a world-wide conspiracey, among governments and their police forces, etal., urged along, if not funded by the multinational, global corporations of the world. If not before, this had its start after the WTO meetings in Seattle, in Nov.-DEc., 1999. Why else to go to such efforts to spy on, disrupt,prempt and abuse protesters and their rights to dissent, and this is taking place in such so-called "democratic" nations as the United States, Canada, Switzerland, England, and Sweden, among others.
I have only been on the internet for less than three years, so I have missed a lot. I recently came across a book, edited by Wesley Pue from the University Of British Columbia, PEPPER IN OUR EYES: The APEC Affair. "Readers from the United States are probably more familiar with the images of tear gas, rubber bullets, and wholesale police evidence from the 1999 protests against the World Trade Organization in Seattle, but two years earlier in Canada, protestors were subjected to similiar tactics for voicing similiar concerns in regards to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperatiion (APEC) summit. Fourteen contributions examine the implications of this attack with regard to constitutional principle, the role of the police in democratic society, public accountability, and the deletorious effects of globalization on rights and politics." This quote is from Book News Annotation,www.powells.com,dealing in new and used books.
"The APEC Affair" is news to me, but this is what's not in the mainstream news in the United States.
Fred Jakobcic
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