police state in barcelona
ft article re-entitled | 15.03.2002 13:29
EUROPE: City under siege as EU summit security tightens ANTI-GLOBALISATION PROTESTS POLICE TAKE NO CHANCES:
Financial Times; Mar 15, 2002
By LESLIE CRAWFORD
Barcelona's 3m inhabitants are not in the best of moods.
Their lives have been disrupted by the extreme security measures being taken to protect a summit of European Union leaders that begins today. Residents fear anti-globalisation protests will turn nasty, as they did in Genoa and Gothenburg. They resent the presence of more than 15,000 police who have been sent to Barcelona to protect the delegates.
"The city is very tense," says Enric Juliana, city editor at La Vanguardia, a Barcelona newspaper. "We feel under siege."
For a city that works so hard to promote itself as a centre of metropolitan chic, a violent summit could be a marketing disaster for Barcelona, frightening off tourists who contribute more than 10 per cent of its livelihood. Since the WTO's 1998 meeting in Seattle, city authorities have come to see gatherings of world leaders more as a liability than as an opportunity to showcase their wares.
Barcelona's business elite also wishes the EU summit had been held elsewhere. Spain's intelligence services have warned prominent businessmen that Eta, the armed Basque separatist group, may attempt to kidnap them during the summit. Banks have had to reinforce security because of bomb threats. "If anti-globalisation protests turn violent - and more than 20 demonstrations will be held over the weekend - our offices are an obvious target. We are bracing ourselves for a lot of vandalism," a senior bank executive says.
Anti-globalisation protesters say that if there is violence it will be the fault of police for failing to control "provocateurs". Bernard Cassen, French founder of Attac, says governments have a vested interest in portraying the anti-globalisation movement as violent. Yesterday he criticised the heavy police presence on the border between Spain and France. "The EU wants to liberalise energy and transport, but it prevents the free movement of people," Mr Cassen said at a press conference in Barcelona.
Police have turned away more than 100 would-be demonstrators at the border. They have confiscated baseball bats, pick axes and hollow tubes. A Barcelona-Real Madrid soccer derby on Saturday will add to their worries. So police are not taking any chances.
The city's main thoroughfare, the Diagonal, has been closed to traffic for the duration of the summit. Metro stations in the vicinity of the summit conference centre have also been shut down. The University of Barcelona, with 65,000 students, has also decreed a two-day holiday because its main campus lies with the summit's security zone.
All of this will ensure that the summit takes place in sealed surroundings, with no contact allowed between foreign dignitaries and city dwellers. For those who worry about the relevance of EU policy to ordinary Europeans, the isolation of its leaders is an apt metaphor. www.ft.com/barcelona
Financial Times; Mar 15, 2002
By LESLIE CRAWFORD
Barcelona's 3m inhabitants are not in the best of moods.
Their lives have been disrupted by the extreme security measures being taken to protect a summit of European Union leaders that begins today. Residents fear anti-globalisation protests will turn nasty, as they did in Genoa and Gothenburg. They resent the presence of more than 15,000 police who have been sent to Barcelona to protect the delegates.
"The city is very tense," says Enric Juliana, city editor at La Vanguardia, a Barcelona newspaper. "We feel under siege."
For a city that works so hard to promote itself as a centre of metropolitan chic, a violent summit could be a marketing disaster for Barcelona, frightening off tourists who contribute more than 10 per cent of its livelihood. Since the WTO's 1998 meeting in Seattle, city authorities have come to see gatherings of world leaders more as a liability than as an opportunity to showcase their wares.
Barcelona's business elite also wishes the EU summit had been held elsewhere. Spain's intelligence services have warned prominent businessmen that Eta, the armed Basque separatist group, may attempt to kidnap them during the summit. Banks have had to reinforce security because of bomb threats. "If anti-globalisation protests turn violent - and more than 20 demonstrations will be held over the weekend - our offices are an obvious target. We are bracing ourselves for a lot of vandalism," a senior bank executive says.
Anti-globalisation protesters say that if there is violence it will be the fault of police for failing to control "provocateurs". Bernard Cassen, French founder of Attac, says governments have a vested interest in portraying the anti-globalisation movement as violent. Yesterday he criticised the heavy police presence on the border between Spain and France. "The EU wants to liberalise energy and transport, but it prevents the free movement of people," Mr Cassen said at a press conference in Barcelona.
Police have turned away more than 100 would-be demonstrators at the border. They have confiscated baseball bats, pick axes and hollow tubes. A Barcelona-Real Madrid soccer derby on Saturday will add to their worries. So police are not taking any chances.
The city's main thoroughfare, the Diagonal, has been closed to traffic for the duration of the summit. Metro stations in the vicinity of the summit conference centre have also been shut down. The University of Barcelona, with 65,000 students, has also decreed a two-day holiday because its main campus lies with the summit's security zone.
All of this will ensure that the summit takes place in sealed surroundings, with no contact allowed between foreign dignitaries and city dwellers. For those who worry about the relevance of EU policy to ordinary Europeans, the isolation of its leaders is an apt metaphor. www.ft.com/barcelona
ft article re-entitled