Violent Repression At NATO Summit in Romania

Romanian Embassy in London
4 Palace Green
London
W8 4QD
Tel: 020 7937.9666
Fax: 020 7937.8069

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According to the statements made by activists, who were present at the timpuri noi location, many of them were beaten by the police.As soon as the gendarmes entered the space, they started kicking and hitting people left and right. to the press: that's why the clothes of many of the activists were very dirty.

One of the participants was assaulted quite badly and he was in need of medical care, but the police thought it more appropriate, that he be held at the police station and he was released only 5 minutes before the press arrived, so as to raise no suspicions since the journalists had found out that there was someone who was badly hurt.

Another girl has said that she received two kicks to the head (just hard enough that there wouldn't be any traces). Another thing: when several supporters of those arrested came to stand outside of the original location, and after all the journalists had left, an order came that those people be arrested as well.

The chief of police said the intervention at the plant was conducted exclusively by gendarmes and that he cannot give any details about the actual operation.

Yesterday there was also a Solidarity Demonstration in Bucharest:

The protesters decided to walk from precinct 11 to precinct 12 after finding out that one of the protesters was supposedly hurt during the intervention of the law enforcement, without benefiting from medical assistance. Approximately 60 people gathered at the police station.

They walked the distance between the two precincts holding banners that said “This is how democracy looks like? Police and Army against citizens-2008” or “Free Anti Militarists, close the NATO".

Earlier in the day, Razvan Martin, program coordinator within the Press Monitoring Agency was detained by police officers and taken to precinct 10 in capital city Bucharest.

There had been already Solidaritydemonstrations in Poland and Germany. Tomorrow there will be another in Berlin/Germany and Bern/Suisse.

This evening, during a punk concert, there was a speaking from the stage to the audience about the situation in Bucharest. In a small sign of solidarity one of the bands played a cover by The Clash - "Bucharest burnning" in Sofia/Bulgaria.

Fotos from the spontaneous demonstration (friday):
 http://de.indymedia.org/2008/04/212387.shtml

The Common Voice from the anarchists and anti-militarists who gathered in Bucharest in April 2008 to protest against the NATO summit.

As long as there will be war, as well as systems and organizations that support militarization, murder, and profit-making from conflicts, there will be always movements protesting against them. Nowadays NATO is the most influential military alliance in the world. That’s why wherever a NATO summit will take place there will be people resisting it. Bucharest is not an exception.

In spite of the media intoxication as well as governmental repressions, which started already months before the summit, hundreds of anti-militarists both, Romanian and international, gathered in the capital city, Bucharest.

The mainstream media bombarded the Romanian population with an image of the anti-militaristic activists as careless, terrorists, hooligans and enemies of the common Romanian people, who were only coming to destroy the city. This was all absurd and obviously fabricated as most of the mass media never even bothered to try and find any information from the anti-militarist side.

Also local authorities tried their best to intimidate anyone who might take part in the protests months before the summit. People from different parts of Romania were observed, received phone calls and visits from various law enforcement authorities. While this is common practice, recently law enforcement authorities intensified the repression to an extreme.

At the same time people from other countries were repressed when trying to cross the Romanian border. Many of them were denied entry to Romania without being given any legal reason. In the days before the summit many activists were stopped and harassed by police, but this heavy police presence also affected regular citizens in many ways.

The peek of the repression took place on the 2nd of April 2008 when the jandarmerie (special forces) brutally stormed the space which activists were using for accommodation, gathering and events. This legally rented space was raided without warning. This aggression was without any legal backing. The jandarms behaved brutally both physically (kicking, hitting and using gas) and mentally (shouting homophobic, xenophobic and racist insults). Most of the people were hit, but several were badly injured. This was a desperate, but unsuccessful attempt on behalf of the Romanian state to stop the protest activities.

What happened after was a combination of, on the one side, a reaction from the movement, and on the other, from the mainstream media which recognized the abuse of power and force. The anti-militarists remaining free initiated spontaneous anti-repression marches and pickets in front of police stations together with several human rights organizations and lawyers. In many countries, solidarity actions took place, like demonstrations in front of Romanian embassies. Facing this kind of reaction, Romanian state was forced to weaken their stance. Ten hours later all activists had been released and the activists’ space was reclaimed.

Even if full trust in the real intentions of the mass media has not been restored, it is clear that at that moment they took a serious step towards presenting the real intentions of the international anti-militarist movement more accurately.

It is important to stress that the actions and protests in Bucharest had both local and international participants, as militarism is not only a local problem. This movement has no masters or leaders, so no single person or group can be blamed or take credit for organizing the protests. In particular, it is important to emphasize that the attention of the international movement will focus on the developments in Romania after the summit. Romanian authorities should know that any further attempts of repression against Romanian anti-militarists will not be left without a strong reaction from the international community. Solidarity strengthened because of our experiences in Bucharest and will be built upon.

To conclude, despite massive repression as anti-militarist activists managed to conduct a number of public events and recognized that many inhabitants of Bucharest sympathized with anti-militarist ideas as they were greeting us at every step. For us this is a clear sign that there is no consensus within the Romanian society on topics like NATO, militarism or even state interventions in social relations. In fact many people were negative or at least critical about it. One could ask: if so many Romanian people are critical, why did they not go on the streets to express their opinions? The answer is clear: The state created an atmosphere of fear and terror which reminds Romanian citizens of the times before December 1989.

We have shown in Bucharest that no matter how restrictive the repressions are, it will never stop our resistance.

They can break our bones, but not our ideas! Anti-militarists protests will continue!