The Spanish and French authorities show total disregard for democratic rights.

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Three buses left from Brussels on Thursday night.
We reached the Spanish border just before midday on Friday.

After having had our backpacks and our passports examined, and after a long wait at the border (during which the bus drivers apparently suffered verbal intimidation) we were turned back.

The Spanish border police gave us no valid reason for refusing entry. (By law they are obliged to provide written justification to each and every individual.) They let us believe that we would be let through, then, after loading us into the buses, they ordered our drivers to return to France.
This despite all the rules (Treaty of Rome etc) guaranteeing freedom of movement for E.U. citizens.

Needless to say, knowing that we would be checked at the border, we had ensured that everyone on the buses was "squeaky-clean". The most dangerous weapons we carried were anti-capitalist booklets and flyers!

On the French side of the border, we joined some French activists (an ATTAC group) in blocking the border motorways in protest against the illegitimate actions of the police. Again, we were warned off by the police - French police collaborating with the Spanish. Our legal teams, consisting of 2 lawyers and several well briefed students, were refused a hearing.

Those who did not leave the border area, were then forcibly removed - local papers have photos of people being roughly dragged off. I talked later to some young girls (their first demo) who had been beaten by police using batons.

Our buses attempted to regroup with the French we had met. However, on the road, French police vehicles following us obliged us to split up, refusing the French buses access to the motorway rest-area which our 3 buses had entered. Shortly after this, motorways in the South-East of France were closed to ALL buses!

The following day, along with French activists, we demonstrated in Perpignan, against the closure of motorways to buses; in order to publicise the trampling underfoot of basic rights, and in order to pressure the Spanish consulate into taking a stand. There were around 1500 of us in Perpignan I believe: over 100 of the D14 group from Belgium, many hundreds from the blocked French coaches (from Marseille, Aix, Toulouse, Bordeaux...) We were strongly supported by local SUD people (an independent militant trade union) and local activists, anarchists etc...

Most of the demonstrators then attempted to cross the border.
The police used delaying tactics until around 18h00. By the time the border was opened, the big demo in Barcelona was already under way, and the summit of heads of state was over.

One of the D14 buses (with around 45 people in it) proceded to Barcelona, which it reached shortly after eight in the evening. Two others turned back to Belgium at this point.

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Still, trying to go to Barcelona WAS worthwhile!

The the totalitarian behaviour of Spanish and French police and disproportionate force they used have added to the body of proof regarding the true nature of the European Union and the Schengen agreements.

The Europe which is now under construction will tolerate no dissent. Basic rights (freedom of expression, of assembly, of movement) are trampled underfoot - or, as the French CRS showed, by hitting young girls with their batons at the border on Friday - are beaten aside.
D14's attempt to use legal means to reach Barcelona reminds us that "our leaders" place themselves far above the laws they edict.

Schengen was welcomed in many countries as an incarnation of freedom of movement for European citizens. This weekend makes it clear that what now remains of Schengen is the Schengen Information System. (you know, S.I.S cards and the database primarily used for immigration control) and collusion between police forces as they support each others' illegal interventions.

By Alison Russell
(of whose already tattered belief in "due process", "democracy" and the "rule of law" little now remains...)

More photos on Belgium Indymedia