arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)

For hours yesterday afternoon, thousands of activists were hemmed-in at the Tour&Taxi convergence centre, with large police forces cordoning the area and not allowing anyone to leave without being searched and filmed. Water cannons were occasionally used against the activists in the cold evening air, and only after about two hours were people allowed to leave.
The demonstration began with a lively march from the immigrant detention centre, le Petit Chateau. The anarchist bloc started with a small group of about 50 people, which swelled into the hundreds as the march progressed, all the time dancing to the sounds of a samba band and the indymedia music system. A police station was "redecorated" on boulevard Emile Bockstael, and a few windows were broken. The first of several banks was hit in the Place Bockstael, all of which had their fronts put in. Throughout there was no police intervention, even when a second, apparently empty, police station was attacked. No local shops, civillians or other demonstrators were harmed.
The protesters also resisted the attempts by many police provocateurs dressed in street clothes to escalate the situation. These police agents were in the demo despite a clear promise by the mayor that they would not be deployed.The march continued in a festive fashion, with graffitied slogans such as "Carlo is not dead" and "Feed the poor – eat the rich" all along the route. Bands from London, Amsterdam, Nijmegen and Gent joined together to form a 40 strong carnival bloc.
Converging at the Tour&Taxi a celebration began – until police hemmed the protesters in. Undercover policemen seized 6 videotapes qnd film from two media activists who were detained. The overall attendance of the demonstration is estimated at 25,000. "All the people who are here have different opinions, but we come along because we all have idealism and love for freedom and justice in common", said one activist, "diversity means power. We all felt it. The police must have felt it too".