Police attacked a several thousand person strong blockade in Stuttgart today. The people were protesting against the „S21″ project which aims to tear down a section of the existing main train station and replace it with a, very expensive, underground one. In this case concretely they were defending a city park and its trees from being felled to further construction of the project.
Police attacked the non-violent blockade, consisting of young people, students, and generally „ordinary citizens“ with water cannons and pepper spray. Unconfirmed reports speak of hundreds of injuries, several people with broken bones, and even one person as young as 8 years old injured. The worst of it is a man who had his eyes shot out by a water cannon (image here , but caution very graphic).
Demonstrations in solidarity with the demonstrators took place across Germany this evening. In Göttingen approximately 50 people demonstrated. A complete report (in German) can be found at Monsters of Göttingen.
(Image: Monsters of Göttingen)
We are going to go with the bad before the good so that none of you shallow fools just look at the video of the „Europa“ bookstore, attacked and destroyed by antifascists yesterday in Barcelona.
*Massive Police Repression in Brussels
What follows is a very summarized translation of the days events yesterday. You can read a complete timeline (in French and English) here. Of particular interest, while some union groups and individuals did apparently show solidarity, there were also more than enough cases of precisely the contrary, even as far as union security services working with the police to chase, beat, and arrest activists.
Transport of arrested comrades
Approximately 450-500 arrests, out of a total of ca. 600 activists on the streets! Two of these are seriously injured, many others wounded.
Of the approximately 300 people who were able to join the mass union demonstration as an anticapitalist bloc, less than 20 escaped arrest.
Plainclothes cops in action…
The comrades from the No Border camp had chosen to participate in the mass union march as an anti-capitalist bloc, in order to express a clearly anti-capitalist and revolutionary perspective at the demonstration. After a collective departure from the camp, the first 100 activists are arrested by the police only a few blocs down the road. Another 50-60 are arrested at other points on the way to the demonstration.
Despite this initial repression, ca. 300 activists are able to reach the pre-arranged meeting point and form themselves as a bloc. The police however proceed to surround them and impede them from joining the rest of the demonstration. Suddenly, the activists run off in all directions, overwhelming the cops who dont intervene.
Re-formed, the ca. 300 comrades gather next to the demonstration. The cops arrive „en masse“ and prepare to charge. Quick negotiations with two union blocs in the vicinity allow for the demonstrators to enter the march between the two union blocs. Numerous displays of solidarity from union activists with the No Border activists.
Once in the demonstration, the police flank the anti-capitalist bloc on both sides and proceed to attack it, repeatedly. The bloc is compact and resists against, even sometimes repelling, the attacks of the police. But one attack is followed by the next, repeatedly for hours, until the bloc is completely dispersed and most people arrested.“
A video of one of the many police attacks…
On a side note…particularly worrying…Belgium was always one of those countries where you really didnt need to take cops seriously (at least usually not)….like Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, etc. And yet they were able to do this, worrying.
*Nazi Murderer Free Again!
Dortmund Nazi Sven Kahlin, who murdered Thomas Schulz in 2005, was recently released from prison. For this reason there was a demonstration in Dortmund yesterday, and you can see images and read a report here.
*Fascist Bookstore Europa Destroyed (Again!)
We mentioned it yesterday, and here are videos of the destruction (ca. 300,000€ of damages), and an interview with the owner. Be outraged at the vandalic attacks of these culture feindliche criminals!
Edit 22:34:Apparently, for the comrades in Brussels who attended the mass demonstration the day went very poorly indeed, marked by a heavy repression, over 4oo arrests, and 2 serious injuries. More tomorrow…
A quick summary of todays general strike in the Spanish state, the 7th since the return of „democracy.“
-All in all a high adhesion, unions putting it at around 70%.
-Numerous police charges and arrests, usually aimed at picketers trying to stop strike breakers from going about their business. The worst of it was one woman, CGT member, who was run over by a strike breaker and suffered extensive injuries, even falling briefly into a coma.
-Not of particular importance, but a nice note….Rayo Vallecano was the only professional futbol team to adhere to the strike, with the players refusing to practice and the club closing its doors.
-In Barcelona, groups of anarchists and autonomes took the opportunity offered by the thinly stretched police and the thousands of people on the streets to
a. carry out an attack on the Nazi library „Europa“ and leave it completely destroyed. Sadly, no pictures (at least as of yet).
b. carry out militant actions directed at either stores which refused to close their doors for the day, or particularly „representative“ symbols of capitalism. (Imagine…radicals in Germany using similar ocassions to show solidarity, radicalize people, and generally intervene in concrete real struggles with a direct relevance to the lives of people who exist outside of university classrooms. I can hear the empörung already…they are just trying to reform the system, es geht ums ganze, there might also be people who we dont agree with there, etc.)
In the course of the confrontations, barricades were erected, and at least one police vehicle was put out of action…
-You can read a summarized overview of the days events, both in the Spanish state and elsewhere, at La Haine (in Spanish).
-Elsewhere in Europe, independent unions carried out strike actions in Greece, and 100,000 people demonstrated in Brussels.
The day in pictures….
One of the pickets outside a Madrid transport hall…
The next round is scheduled for Saturday in France, where massive demonstrations are to take place across the country.
Ugh. Frustrating on the one hand, and lending itself to lots of easy and stereotypical jokes about Germans and radical politics. However, these would probably be wrong and it seems to have been the right decision. Read for yourselves…
Der Koordinierungskreis der Aktion Georg Büchner hat am Freitag, den 24. September in Frankfurt nach mehrstündiger Debatte beschlossen, die Bankenaktion am 18. Oktober abzusagen.
Wir halten die Idee der Bankenblockade für überfällig, richtig und notwendig. Der Vorschlag beruhte auf der Annahme, dass es uns trotz drängender Zeit gelingen könnte, am 18. Oktober 2010 Tausende von Menschen zu einer Aktion des zivilen Ungehorsams zusammenzubringen – um die Idee von ›Masse und Entschiedenheit‹, wie sie in Dresden dieses Jahres so beeindruckend umgesetzt wurde, auf die soziale Frage zu übertragen, mit dem Ziel, dem Verarmungsprogramm mehr als Klagen, Kundgebungen und Demonstrationen entgegenzusetzen.
All of this is exciting enough, but the definite icing on the cake is the „new“ REDSKINS CD „Epilogue.“ If you dont know *and* love the Redskins, the band who „walked like The Clash and sang like The Supremes,“ then I suggest you stop reading right now and either invest 13€ in the CD, or at least go look for some free songs of theirs online. Not only were they pioneers of this madness we call the „redskin subculture,“ they were politically solid through and through and musically few bands have ever even come close to them. On this particular CD, you can listen in awe at such hard to get classics as „Unionize,“ „Lean on Me,“ and „It Can Be Done.“
(The Redskins, being traditional MLers of the party variety, would certainly not approve of the person who made this videos choice of pictures, but whatever…)
*Meet the first three jackets of the fall collection. If all goes well, they will be online and deliverable as of 27.10…so in EXACTLY 30 days…
The classic „Red Heat“ Black sweatjacket, in slightly revised look…
The 100% cotton reversible hooded sweatjacket, this time royal blue/black.
The reversible hooded waterproof jacket. One side black and waterproof, the other red and cotton.
*CNT Fest in Metz, October 2nd-3rd-4th
We know, theres really waaaaay to much on offer this coming weekend (the demonstration in Brussels in the context of the No Border Camp, the demonstration in Bremen, the squatters demonstration in the Netherlands…) but still. The annual CNT festival in Metz is always worth the visit. In all honesty, it already began last week with a series of debates, concerts, and film screenings, but for us it is concentrated this weekend with…
-Concerts from Friday to Sunday, highlights include antifascist hardcore from Russia from WHAT WE FEEL, polit hiphop from SKALPEL, very classic ska from LOS 3 PUNTOS, and the beloved STAGE BOTTLES. The list is of course highly subjective, there are in total 11 bands playing!
-A demonstration on Saturday afternoon to the offices of the „Medef“ (the bosses lobby organization in France).
-Debates and discussions througout the weekend, and a collective eating of couscous on Sunday for Lunch.
*In no the „posing around“ category, although it does really makes us happy…In the last few weeks, aside from the usual orders to Germany, we have sent packages to: Canada, USA (Wisconsin!), Singapore, France, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Czech Rep., Spanish State, Russia, Switzerland, and Austria! Woooo.
