update of last night, lausanne and geneva
sprout | 02.06.2003 11:34
local anger boils over in geneva, update on arrestees from lausanne, press conference in Usine @ 3pm
The riot was largely dispersed near place Bel Air; there was intense and massive tear gassing. About 100 people were left after the gassing, and were running from the German police. Water cannons have also been deployed around the city center. According to several sources, a column of about 40 empty German police trucks is moving up the hill from the Rhone to the International District. The protesters appeared to be mostly made up of local people, from local housing estates as well as swiss activists.
Anger was high after residents had seen the level of unwarranted violence from the authorities and people deeply resented the deployment of German police in Switzerland.
Later today, there will be a press conference at l'Usine, 3pm local time, on the raid by police last night and another press conference from the hospital bed of the activist cut from the bridge, in Lausanne
In Lausanne, the legal team says, that there are probably still arrestees in Lausanne. they do not know how many, because many of the arrests from the camp yesterday were set free but the police is not talking about the actual number of arrests.
Anger was high after residents had seen the level of unwarranted violence from the authorities and people deeply resented the deployment of German police in Switzerland.
Later today, there will be a press conference at l'Usine, 3pm local time, on the raid by police last night and another press conference from the hospital bed of the activist cut from the bridge, in Lausanne
In Lausanne, the legal team says, that there are probably still arrestees in Lausanne. they do not know how many, because many of the arrests from the camp yesterday were set free but the police is not talking about the actual number of arrests.
sprout
Comments
Hide the following 22 comments
German riot cops attached local population
02.06.2003 14:03
pm
Selective Corperate Reporting
02.06.2003 18:49
I was present on the First big demo in Geneva (The NoBorders Demo Fri 30th May)which went around the institutional district of Geneva. It was pretty small and dominated by Black Bloc. The cops were keeping a very low profile (hidden in side street's or behind the mesh of a under ground car park). The black bloc DID smash up the ground floor o the WMO (world migration organisation) and broke throught the gates of the WTO and left the WIPO alone apart from some grafiti. As soon as they attacked the WMO the cops fired tear gas at us (i was with a group that included a 5 year old girl who was quite distressed). My point is that there was no coverage of the "senseless violence" that the corperate press usually swoops upon. This is because the state wants to scare monger and show that we are mindless thugs by always showing footage of any shops being smashed up. The Audi garage that was smashed up on the way back from the same demo was splashed all over the press in the UK and in the Swiss press. They was a susspicious lack of coverage on the damage to the World death instituions. Perhaps they do not want to show planned directed violence for fear that people might think we had a point in fighting the WTO. Perhaps there just wasen't any press about and any activist media don't want to release any footage that show violent protesters. Comments?
OutsideTheBox
e-mail:
hedphelym@envirocitizen.com
very limited press coverage
02.06.2003 19:50
pat p. piddlesworth
prevent public outcry
02.06.2003 21:51
sean
No more walls!
02.06.2003 23:06
We 8 G8, We 8 G8, We 8 G8, We 1 2 B 3 from wage slav-er-E!
The Seamster
hmmm
03.06.2003 13:47
go all the blocs. do what you can.
dan duran
Homepage:
www.mp3.com.au/lunaspark
erm
03.06.2003 14:42
kst
Fox
03.06.2003 17:44
No mention of either police misconduct, what an "anarchist" is, or about the possibility that the majority of anarchists also were not engaging in property destruction.
Captain Doughfish
In Wash. D.C.
03.06.2003 17:47
E for Edit
violence begets violence
03.06.2003 20:25
SBW
german news and dutch news
03.06.2003 20:36
Dagmar
e-mail:
daymar@gmx.de
german and dutch news
03.06.2003 20:39
dagmar
no coverage
03.06.2003 21:12
It sounds like the police did a very good job in keeping you guys from destroying even more property and wrecking others' livelihoods, i.e., their places of employment.
Bob
e-mail:
cheroitaliana@hotmail.com
Tear Gas the Smell of Frightened Capitalists?
04.06.2003 01:46
puzzled
Bob: We stand for peace and justice
04.06.2003 14:20
> I am glad that my five year olds (
Dear Bob,
If you can post a comment to Indymedia UK, then you
should be able to read the links and see what in fact we
do stand for.
Please start with "We Stand for Peace and Justice":
and then I suggest you go to
What you say is true in the sense that we oppose
"everything", where "everything" means not only the
violent, authoritarian institutions of the G8, but
also violent institutions like al-Qaeda and regimes like
that of Saddam Hussein.
However, there is more choice than either "for"
the G8 violence or "for" the al-Qaeda violence.
There are *alternatives*, where we are against all
authoritarian regimes, and *for* non-violent social
systems.
Please read.
Please teach your five-year olds to read and think
independently from the authorities.
Please also remember that just as the vast majority of
pro-authoritarian citizens are opposed to violence, but
accept that in some cases violence in self-defence can be
acceptable, it is similarly the case among anti-authoritarian
citizens - the vast majority are opposed to violence, but
accept that in some cases violence against material goods
(like statues of Stalin, Saddam Hussein or the WTO offices)
is acceptable, and violence in self-defence can also be
acceptable, even if it may often be a strategically bad idea.
what we stand for
Homepage:
http://www.zmag.org/wspj/index.cfm
Protesting International Organisations
04.06.2003 14:49
For example the first demo on the international organisations was very small, perhaps 300 people in total, about 30 or 40 of whom could be considered Black Block (or young people hiding their faces and throwing stones). The targetting of the organisations is also of course very subjective. WTO and WIPO are clearly organisations that promote capital interests. International Organisation of Migration was attacked (not very much incidentally: three broken windows) on the basis that it enforces global borders and is in charge of "Migration Management" which has the effect of forcing people back into areas they do not want to be. In fact it is states who manage migration and IOM which researches and supports the plight of migrants. I would be happy to get into a discussion about this because I think this kind of random targetting undermines the political arguments of protesters. The WIPO annex right next to IOM was practically ignored. Graffiti on that building referred to IOM. Which is ludicrous. WIPO upholds the right of the individual and / or private capitalist enterprise to charge for access to life saving knowledge. It does not recognise a need to balance property rights and human rights. IOM speaks up for those in legal limbo: migrants. Attacking IOM is utterly misdirected. Borders exist, migration is a reality, and migrants do not have their rights recognised. This is the background on which IOM is operating. Ignoring reality might be nice, but does not really help people in distressing reality.
Besides which the fact is there are much more immediate targets being ignored literally right next door.
The comments about police use of tear gas being unnecessary are in my view correct. Having spent the last few days breathing the stuff periodically (as it drifted all over town - at least into the homes of many families in the area where i live) I would agree that the police were using far too much of it, without due regard for people other than the kids sitting in front of them, who would not move. At times it definitely deteriorated into a macho nonsense between too many cops with too many machines and a few bored people looking for excitement.
Duncan
e-mail:
duncanwilson@mail.com
Sociopathic reasoning
04.06.2003 16:36
... is acceptable, and violence in self-defence"
Like a snake eating its own tail you condem their violence in self-defense of "your violence" for which you recommend violent self-defense. That is just sociopathic to me. You seem to suggest that everything would be okay if your destruction was unrestrained.
Society as a whole is quite capable of taking care of itself when a threat becomes recognizable, be it WTO or other institutions.
You would replace these organizations with your own (if not now, then inevitably) corrupt institutes. The lack of support by society is only encouraged by your violence, which exceeds anything the authorities "you" would replace exhibit.
These actions only weaken your cause. Or are you merely secret conspiritors of the organizations you attack, infiltrating and discrediting otherwise effective protests and investigations. That's all the good you are doing anyway - that and recruiting your own militia.
RCH
e-mail:
rchwatch@hotmail.com
making it better
04.06.2003 17:43
I find it disturbing that acts of violence are being justified because the "good guys" are doing it. But don't get me wrong the actions of the police absolutely upset and sadden me. I would never downplay the unnecessary force of those that are supposed to protect us, but I wouldn't downplay the unnecessary force of those that say they are trying to make life better as well.
Breaking windows never built a house.
Mel
Five year-old Bush supporters
04.06.2003 18:48
"I am glad that my five year olds (who happen to be Bush supporters) do not learn to destroy property belonging to others in order to get some unknown point across"
I think five years has got to be the average mental age of anyone the supported Bush's illegal invasion of Iraq, the billions of dollars worth of senseless damage that ensued and the thousands and thousands of innocent women and children that were murdered to get our 'point' across (while lamenting over and condemning the destruction of a dozen or so windows).
Bob Jr. may not have been gifted with the brightest parents in the world, but at least he still has all his arms and legs.
Chem11
replying to the "smart" arse
05.06.2003 09:42
by kst 12:42pm Tue Jun 3 '03
sorry to disapoint you, but WMO stands for World Meterological Organisation, it's the new, blue-green glass buliding that some pretty clever demonstrators broke with stones... "
WMO stands for World Maritime Organisation. Arse. and yes the comment was confused when they meant IOM, but with so many organisations and so much wastage of money, who wouldn't get lost in the alphabet soup?
nobody likes someone trying to be clever. and like you, those people often don't know what they are talking about.
duncan
e-mail:
duncanwilson@mail.com
Travel Advice for Bob
05.06.2003 20:52
" I am glad that my five year olds (who happen to be Bush supporters) do not learn to destroy property belonging to others in order to get some unknown point across."
To Bob:
Don't take them to Boston. They might want to join the thousands of kids who every year delight in tossing immitation tea crates into the harbor from the "Tea Party Ship," while learning about the bad old days when some people dominated others and so the exploited rose up and threw off the elite. History isn't pretty: they dressed to look like those they themselves were nearly exterminating.
Skip the Smithsonian too, they'd never understand the lunch counter exhibit. Everything said in criticism of today's youth was said about the sit-ins and freedom rides.
Everybody else:
Carry it on! In Peace.
jim
e-mail:
jcstrss@yahoo.com
from Bob
05.06.2003 22:20
With regard to the intelligence of Bush supporters, you should check the demographics. You would likely find that the mainstream GOP is much more educated than the left. Look at Bill O'Riely (I believe several masters) and Mike Savage (PhD) versus Martin Sheen (HS dropout) and Susan Sarandon (acting degree) as examples.
The war was not senseless. Saddam was spared in 1991 provided he abided by terms of the cease fire. He refused, so we removed him. Whether WMD exist or not is irrelevant. Don't forget how many people Saddam killed in his wars with Iran and Kuwait. If the USA had not been there to stop him, hundreds of thousands more would likely have been killed.
I like the travel choice. I will take them to the tea party boat in Boston in July. We will also see the USS Constitution. They have already been to the Old North Bridge. The tea party was different in that the colonials did not have a say in taxation. In addition, it was a couple of boxes of tea and nothing else. These protests by your groups just destroy everything in sight regardless of who owns it.
Again, I appreciate the responses, but I still do not see how such a riot gets your point across.
Bob
e-mail:
cheroitaliana@hotmail.com