Barcelona engulfed in flames (Spain)

Barcelona engulfed in flames // anarchistnews.org

The General Strike of 29 March paralyzed much of Spain. The ports shut down, along with many factories, electricity consumption fell by 24% (even though in Madrid, for example, they kept the street lights running during the day to jack up the usage rates and affect the statistics), transport in many areas was paralyzed, strike participation ran between 80-100% in most industries (and at about a quarter to a third in the service sector and the small shops).

In Barcelona, the general strike began at midnight with pickets closing down bars. In the center, one group of hooded picketers entered a casino, presumably to shut it down, but once inside they carried out a quick robbery and made off with 2,300 euros in cash. Early in the morning, at least 8 blockades, most of them involving burning tires, shut down the major highway and rail entrances to the city. Pickets throughout the morning in most neighborhoods of the city patrolled the streets, blocking transit, barricading the streets with dumpsters, and forcing shops to close. At midday the strike in Barcelona escalated into heavy rioting that lasted most of the day. Hundreds of thousands of people converged in the city center, seizing the streets and slowing down police. Innumerable banks and luxury stores were smashed, innumerable dumpsters set ablaze, and a large number of banks, luxury stores, Starbucks and other chains were set on fire.
[I guess we will have to do an accounting. We get tonight. They get every other fucking day. I hate math.]

In a couple occasions the police were sent running, attacked with fire, fireworks, and stones, and for the first time ever the Catalan police had to use tear gas to regain control, although large parts of the city remained liberated for hours, and columns of smoke rose into the sky from multiple neighborhoods late into the night. Many journalists and undercover cops were attacked and injured by the rioters. Fires spread to unseen proportions, often filling wide avenues and sending flames shooting several meters into the air. Firefighters were so over extended, they often took half an hour to reach even the major blazes, and were often seen bypassing burning dumpsters in order to extinguish burning banks. Dozens of people were injured by less lethal ammunitions fired by the police, and a relatively unprecedented number of people participated in the riots directly or indirectly. The heaviest fighting and smashing was carried out by anarchists, left Catalan independentistes, socialists, and above all neighborhood hooligans and immigrant youth. Nonetheless, thousands more people of all ages and backgrounds supported and applauded the rioters and filled the air with anticapitalist chants. Accounts and memories differ, but many people feel that they have just witnessed the largest and most important riots in Catalunya since the 1980s, if not earlier.

A more detailed report will follow when the smoke clears.
Some interesting videos are linked below, but bear in mind that the most intense moments are never recorded, because the journalists are getting their cameras smashed, and also because generally the government requests that the media not show footage of large groups of people smashing banks or attacking the police.
 http://www.elperiodico.com/es/videos/sociedad/guerrilla-urbana-barcelona...
 http://videos.lavanguardia.com/20120329/54279044815/tiros-y-barricadas-e...

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Spain: General strike demonstrations on March 29th // en.contrainfo.espiv.net [SEE FOR PICS]

Protests and demonstrations across Spain began in the early hours of Thursday, March 29th, in the first general strike since 2010. In almost all major cities pickets were held ahead of demos (an estimated 111 demos across the country), whose objectives was to report on the devastating consequences that the new ‘labour reform’ entails, to propagate the nationwide mobilizations, to prevent scabs from sabotaging the strike and, through direct actions and blockades, to shut down enterprises, stores and workplaces that were expected to stay open despite the strike, and even to cut off the main streets of cities. The wager was twofold: to paralyze both the lines of production and consumption. So, hundreds of thousands strikers were urging people to block all services and (those who have a job) not to go to work, but also not to buy anything, and use telecommunications, electricity, etc. as little as possible.

While the ‘Labour Reform’ has already been voted in parliament since early February 2012, the State General Budget will be approved on Friday, March 30th, meaning that the government will attempt, among others, to impose even more direct and indirect taxes and to cut social benefits by reducing public funds (with education and health care being the most affected by the new measures). The legislative atrocities, amidst an ever intensified onslaught on working people in Spain, affect deeply the unemployed and the unemployment allowance requirements as well as provided benefits for retirees and pensioners.

Amidst a premeditated crisis of the Capital, the people took to the streets in a last-minute attempt to stand up against the implementation of these measures and to resist the deterioration of their everyday lives. Also, several feminist groups protested the unpaid household work and called for a strike in the day care sector. The police presence was massive from the beginning of the day, but this did not prevent people from taking to the streets and expressing various forms of protest. Of course, all blocks of groups and organizations or random strikers did not share the same goals, thus the fighting spirit of the marches varied, depending on the composition of demonstrator blocks in each neighbourhood and city centre.

Voices from diverse collectivities and political spaces describe the 29M’s mobilizations as successful in their progress and turnout. However, we cannot ignore that more than 177 people got arrested by police thugs in various parts of the Spanish State, or the brutal police assaults, or the numerous severely injured protesters. A young trade unionist was stabbed by an employer who insisted on operating his business in the city of Torrelavega in Cantabria, and a boy from Gasteiz in the Basque Country suffered cerebral hemorrhage after a police charge and is now in intensive care unit with guarded prognosis.

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AUTONOMOUS SELF-ORGANISATION TOWARDS THE INSURRECTIONAL BREAK!!