LIVE REPORT FROM BARCELONA
Anarchist Rioter | 16.03.2002 21:32 Barcelona EU
There has been unbelievable police violence at the final day of the EU summit in Barcelona. A huge demonstration numbering around 300,000 people has been dispersed with baton charges and the firing of rubber bullets. Many protestors have been injured.
5 pm (local time): The big demo has gathered on the Place Catalunya. The procession sets off at six, but owing to the size of the crowd, it takes nearly an hour and a half before the rear can move off. There are about 1,000 "hardcore" Black Block activists inside a much larger CNT-CGT anarchist block.
7:25 pm: A minor scuffle breaks out as the anarchist block moves off. There are riot cops on both sides of the streets defending a department store. However, the trouble only lasts a few seconds. Many of the Black Blockers are already wearing masks and brandishing weapons.
7:55 pm. I have moved immediately in front of the main anarchist block. There is a small riot breaking out to the rear - I can see the Black Block fighting with the crash-helmeted march stewards. Inexplicably, about one hundred riot cops sit in their vans and do nothing, even when their vehicles come under fire from bricks and bottles. If the cops had moved at this point, what followed could easily have been averted. Instead, the Black Block are allowed to move freely down the street, causing serious and sustained property damage to banks and a government building. One complete wanker chucks a bottle at a bank window at the exact time that I am passing. The glass literally smashes in my face, but somehow I am uninjured. I support the Black Block, but this is too much for me . . . there are many tourists and local people trapped in the crowd and we are coming under fire from a hail of projectiles. A journalist is assaulted by a Black Blocker.
8:25 pm: We have reached the seafront. There is a sheer drop in front of us, and riot cops deploying to the rear. Suddenly, there is a big crash, bang, wallop. A rubber bullet has just ricoched off the wall behind me. The Black Block respond with fireworks and bottles, but the baton rounds just keep on coming. I am caught out in the open and it is only by pure luck that I am not hit.
8:45 pm: We have reached the Columbus statue. The stewards are telling everyone to calm down, but the cops are still firing rubber bullets and are baton-charging us to the rear. I am caught in a big crowd surge and the cops come perilously close to hitting me with their big sticks. I am not as fit as I used to be, but with about 500 riot cops pegging it up the street after me, I ran like an Olympic champion!
9 pm: I manage to find refuge in a deserted pub. When I emerge half an hour later, all the demonstrators have gone - most of them in the direction of Paral´lel metro station. There are robocops with baton-guns everywhere, even on the backs of police motorbikes, riding pillion.
10 pm: There must be over 1,000 riot police on Las Ramblas. However, there are only a handful of demonstrators. The situation appears calm for now. I do not know where the Black Block is, or even if they have stayed together as a group. I am just glad to be alive. This is as bad as Genoa.
7:25 pm: A minor scuffle breaks out as the anarchist block moves off. There are riot cops on both sides of the streets defending a department store. However, the trouble only lasts a few seconds. Many of the Black Blockers are already wearing masks and brandishing weapons.
7:55 pm. I have moved immediately in front of the main anarchist block. There is a small riot breaking out to the rear - I can see the Black Block fighting with the crash-helmeted march stewards. Inexplicably, about one hundred riot cops sit in their vans and do nothing, even when their vehicles come under fire from bricks and bottles. If the cops had moved at this point, what followed could easily have been averted. Instead, the Black Block are allowed to move freely down the street, causing serious and sustained property damage to banks and a government building. One complete wanker chucks a bottle at a bank window at the exact time that I am passing. The glass literally smashes in my face, but somehow I am uninjured. I support the Black Block, but this is too much for me . . . there are many tourists and local people trapped in the crowd and we are coming under fire from a hail of projectiles. A journalist is assaulted by a Black Blocker.
8:25 pm: We have reached the seafront. There is a sheer drop in front of us, and riot cops deploying to the rear. Suddenly, there is a big crash, bang, wallop. A rubber bullet has just ricoched off the wall behind me. The Black Block respond with fireworks and bottles, but the baton rounds just keep on coming. I am caught out in the open and it is only by pure luck that I am not hit.
8:45 pm: We have reached the Columbus statue. The stewards are telling everyone to calm down, but the cops are still firing rubber bullets and are baton-charging us to the rear. I am caught in a big crowd surge and the cops come perilously close to hitting me with their big sticks. I am not as fit as I used to be, but with about 500 riot cops pegging it up the street after me, I ran like an Olympic champion!
9 pm: I manage to find refuge in a deserted pub. When I emerge half an hour later, all the demonstrators have gone - most of them in the direction of Paral´lel metro station. There are robocops with baton-guns everywhere, even on the backs of police motorbikes, riding pillion.
10 pm: There must be over 1,000 riot police on Las Ramblas. However, there are only a handful of demonstrators. The situation appears calm for now. I do not know where the Black Block is, or even if they have stayed together as a group. I am just glad to be alive. This is as bad as Genoa.
Anarchist Rioter
Comments
Hide the following 9 comments
black bloc
16.03.2002 22:19
dh
bumhole
16.03.2002 23:14
Pogue Mahone.
and may yours be forcibly penetrated
16.03.2002 23:29
dh
Sphincter say's what?
16.03.2002 23:49
What?
fondled
17.03.2002 00:08
dh
Are you straight?
17.03.2002 00:47
Julian Clary
tactical not insults
17.03.2002 02:33
black block have an ethos, many are sane people - yet so are their critics. there are problems with the way bb can be infiltrated, its anonymous ethos abused to hurt both people and the movement... is there a way to make sure the tactic is used more intelligently on mass demos? must be!
have you got something meaningful to say on this subject dh, pogue and what? if then get on and say it! childish abuse does not a better world make...
zedhead
Stop talking that boy at the back!
17.03.2002 14:05
I have no personal problem with the trashing of banks or McDonalds, though I would regard the net effect as counterproductive, even counterrevolutionary - and I say that as someone who has engaged in anarchist demonstrations in my youth, and a one-time admirer of the New York Motherfuckers so understand the motivation.
However as you say, the problem's one of infiltration, and also the ability to characterise massive 95% peaceful demonstrations as violent(95% of the remaining 5% would I presume be misuse of police powers)
The powers that be have shown their capacity to create events that traumatise the mind on a mass level, leaving them free and confident to do what they want, to lie freely to the public and to ignore opinion whether popular or not.
These demonstrations are great and empowering, and given the spare time and cash, I'd have been there myself.
I do feel the Black Blocs need to consider and revise their approach - even their dress code.
As for the childish abuse stuff, I think a bit of fun is in order, and having been abused a number of times up and down this wire wouldn't like to think taht this kind of banter was disallowed.
dh
Right dh!
17.03.2002 18:37
Pogue Mahone.