Prague Timeline: The New Black Bloc
Anarchist Rioter | 22.11.2002 21:42
The last three days have seen some inspiring protests against NATO and the proposed war on the people of Iraq. On Thursday night over 5,000 anarchists came together from all over Central Europe for a disciplined and entirely peaceful march. Is this the new face of the Black Bloc?
16 November: I breezed through passport control at Prague airport. This Schengen Information System thingy can't be very effective if someone who is as obviously dangerous and subversive as I am can be let into the country.
17 November: A small anarchist demo is allowed to take place from the south of the city into the centre. About 300 people take part, and there is no sign of the riot cops.
20 November: Over one thousand activists, many wearing masks, face off with riot cops on Na Prikope in the city centre. At eight o'clock it is reported that a 'police provocateur' has thrown a bottle at the riot police. The man is apparently hustled away by anarchists, not wishing to provoke a pointless confrontation. The demo is wound up half an hour later with no further incident.
21 November: The biggest demo takes place on Namesti Miru (Peace Square) to the site of the NATO summit venue. There are about one hundred city cops (no riot gear) at the head of the demonstration, but the Robocops are lurking in the side streets. The atmosphere is militant but controlled. At one point a scuffle breaks out between some anarchists and the very aggressive corporate media pack who have surrounded the front of the demonstration. A police car that inadvertantly finds itself on the street is attacked and nearly pushed over. However the car escapes without damage. The anarchists form a human chain to prevent the marchers from spilling over into the press pack. The demo continues peacefully on its way back to Namesti Miru. The riot cops sit in their buses getting very bored.
So is this the new face of the Black Bloc? We have now seen three big demos (Oslo, Salzburg and Prague) where major trouble has been expected, and the clashes with police did not materialise. In part this is due to the fact that the cops have learned to 'play the game' and are not being as provocative as they were two years ago. But this is also surely due to a new spirit of controlled militancy in the anarchist movement. No one wants to kick off demonstrations and get people arrested for no reason. No one wants to damage property if this only results in everyone getting a good kicking. So where do we go from here? Can we still act as a provocative and innovative force without street confrontations? Or will future protests fail to scare the ruling elite into change? Maybe we can 'recruit' more anti-capitalists when people realise that coming on an anarchist demo doesn't necessarily mean participating in a riot. Comments on this would be greatly appreciated.
On a final note I see that the corporate media has totally ignored the protests. CNN carried a hilarious piece about the demonstration by 300 Stalinists on the Old Town Square but failed to mention the much larger anarchist demo going on just around the corner. The big demo with 5,000 people marching through the city centre got no mention at all. The Indepedent 'newspaper' also reported the Stalinist demo and said that anarchists had caused '350 million' quids worth of damage to the IMF summit in September 2000, which is why so many paramilitary Robocops were needed this time around. I never knew the paving stones in Prague were encrusted with diamonds. See you all in Copenhagen!!!
17 November: A small anarchist demo is allowed to take place from the south of the city into the centre. About 300 people take part, and there is no sign of the riot cops.
20 November: Over one thousand activists, many wearing masks, face off with riot cops on Na Prikope in the city centre. At eight o'clock it is reported that a 'police provocateur' has thrown a bottle at the riot police. The man is apparently hustled away by anarchists, not wishing to provoke a pointless confrontation. The demo is wound up half an hour later with no further incident.
21 November: The biggest demo takes place on Namesti Miru (Peace Square) to the site of the NATO summit venue. There are about one hundred city cops (no riot gear) at the head of the demonstration, but the Robocops are lurking in the side streets. The atmosphere is militant but controlled. At one point a scuffle breaks out between some anarchists and the very aggressive corporate media pack who have surrounded the front of the demonstration. A police car that inadvertantly finds itself on the street is attacked and nearly pushed over. However the car escapes without damage. The anarchists form a human chain to prevent the marchers from spilling over into the press pack. The demo continues peacefully on its way back to Namesti Miru. The riot cops sit in their buses getting very bored.
So is this the new face of the Black Bloc? We have now seen three big demos (Oslo, Salzburg and Prague) where major trouble has been expected, and the clashes with police did not materialise. In part this is due to the fact that the cops have learned to 'play the game' and are not being as provocative as they were two years ago. But this is also surely due to a new spirit of controlled militancy in the anarchist movement. No one wants to kick off demonstrations and get people arrested for no reason. No one wants to damage property if this only results in everyone getting a good kicking. So where do we go from here? Can we still act as a provocative and innovative force without street confrontations? Or will future protests fail to scare the ruling elite into change? Maybe we can 'recruit' more anti-capitalists when people realise that coming on an anarchist demo doesn't necessarily mean participating in a riot. Comments on this would be greatly appreciated.
On a final note I see that the corporate media has totally ignored the protests. CNN carried a hilarious piece about the demonstration by 300 Stalinists on the Old Town Square but failed to mention the much larger anarchist demo going on just around the corner. The big demo with 5,000 people marching through the city centre got no mention at all. The Indepedent 'newspaper' also reported the Stalinist demo and said that anarchists had caused '350 million' quids worth of damage to the IMF summit in September 2000, which is why so many paramilitary Robocops were needed this time around. I never knew the paving stones in Prague were encrusted with diamonds. See you all in Copenhagen!!!
Anarchist Rioter
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