BCN: BREAKING NEWS by Anarchist Rioter 12:15pm Fri Mar 15 '02 Serious rioting has broken out at the EU summit at Barcelona. In one incident, peaceful protestors were baton-charged by riot police. Then at 2:25 pm local time, a big confrontation broke out on Las Ramblas, the city´s main walking street. 10:45 am (local time): The "Lobby Busters" demo is attacked by riot cops near the Sagrada Familia. The incident was provoked by the arrival of Critical Mass cyclists - the demo (numbering about 1500 people) then began to trickle onto the road, blocking the traffic. Without any provocation, the police began to beat demonstrators with batons. The crowd was baton-charged three times before the cops finally backed off. 2 pm: A large crowd has gathered outside the Liceu metro station for another demonstration. There are probably about 2,000 activists, including a couple of hundred Black Block. It is obvious that a confrontation is going to occur with the riot police, who have deployed officers with batons and guns that fire rubber bullets. 2.25 pm: Something has kicked off at the front of the crowd. The cops repeatedly baton-charge the crowd in order to disperse us. Masked activists are running onto the back streets. There is some minor property damage. 3 pm: The confrontation continues. Many tourists and local people have been beaten up by the cops. Someone must have been badly injured, because there are ambulances trying to get into the crowd. Something is on fire - I discover that some recycling bins have been set alight outside the Meridien Hotel. However, the clashes are gradually becoming more sporadic. Most people I speak to have been beaten, though injuries (including mine) are fairly minor. 4 pm: The cops have left and the crowd has mostly dispersed. However, the trouble is probably not over yet. Another event is due to start in the city centre in less than two hours´ time. ==================== Breaking News Reports from EU-Summit in Barcelona. by imc uk 12:05pm Fri Mar 15 '02 (Modified on 2:37pm Fri Mar 15 '02) Friday 15.03.02: ========BREAKING NEWS======== 4:30pm - Las Ramblas has now been reopened to transit and downtown barcelona has regained a tense calm. Large numbers of riot police are now moving towards Colon (sea front) where an action against GM food is due to take place soon. 4:20pm - The 350 activists stopped at the border have finally been refused entrance to Spain and forced to turn their buses back to France. 4:00pm - Police are leaving the Ramblas area and the crowd has mostly dispersed now. 15:20pm - Borders are now effectively closed. Police are blocking 3 buses from Belgium, 2 from Toulouse and 2 from Marselle, from crossing the Spanish/French border. Around 350 protesters are stopped by the Spanish police from reaching Barcelona. 3:OOpm - The confrontation between protesters and police continues, although clashes are becoming more sporadic. Many tourists and local people have been beaten up by the police. Ambulances have been seen arriving in the area. 14:30pm - Reports of continuing brutal police charges trying to "clean up" Las Ramblas area of downtown Barcelona. People are fleeding to surrounding back streets. Bars an shops are closing up. 14:20pm - Police still charging at everyone in and around Las Ramblas. Some people have set-up barricades and reports of some small fires in the area. Police have made au unconfirmed number of arrests. 14:00pm - Reports of police surrounding the Convergence Centre. Tensions are rising and people fears police will raid it. Protesters are peacefully gathering at the centre's entrance. Some are starting a sit-in at the building's stairs. 12:40pm - Large numbers of riot police are blocking the Liceo underground's exit in Las Ramblas (downtown Barcelona), whilst searching and identifying any 'suspects'. Large numbers of undercover police are also peresent in the area. 12.30pm - Around 2000 people are outside Liceu theatre in Las Ramblas for the "March-Attack" action, some wearing black and masked up. Police presence is very heavy and athmosphere quite tense. Photos 12:15pm - Around 100 people are gathered outside the 'La Vanguardia' newspaper offices. They protests against corporate press' servility to capital, and it role in criminalising the Catalan social movements. 12:OOpm - Around 100 people took part in a students demonstration in the Gracia area of the city. Photo 11.45am - "Lobby Busters" have managed to do three actions with a festive athmosphere. One outside a bank, the other in a telecom office, the other in a watter company offices. They are now dispersing. 11:30am - Police have entered Pau Esteve school where some protesters are staying. 45 people have been retained for 1 hour. They all have been identified. Police eventually left the building. 11:15am - Dozens of riot police vans have taken the Diagonal area of the City. Police is arbitrarily stopping and identifying passers-by. 11:10am - An action in solidarity with Basque prisoners has taken place, to denounce the dispersion of Basque prisoners all over the Spanish State. Activists have simulated an accident in the middle of the Diagonal Ave turning over a car. This action pointed out the fact that the prisoner's relatives often have to travel hundreds of miles to visit them. Four people have been arrested in this action. 11:00am - Police have attacked the "Lobby Busters" when people tryed to start the action. Reports of 3 protesters slightly injured. 9:45am - People gathered near Sagrada Familia for the 'Lobby Busters' action. Seven police vans quickly arrived and police began to systematically search everyone. No arrests were made. 9:30am - Students that had been occupying the Economics faculty of Barcelona's University, have ended their occupation and took to the streets under strong police presence. Photo of occupation. 9:00am - Around 1000 people started a bicycles Critical Mass. Police is following the ride but so far no reports of any trouble. 8:00am - A small group of activists from the Sarria area have hung 20 banners around the streets of Sarria. The banners have slogans against the Europe of Capital and War. ==================== police state in barcelona by ft article re-entitled 10:29am Fri Mar 15 '02 EUROPE: City under siege as EU summit security tightens ANTI-GLOBALISATION PROTESTS POLICE TAKE NO CHANCES: Financial Times; Mar 15, 2002 By LESLIE CRAWFORD Barcelona's 3m inhabitants are not in the best of moods. Their lives have been disrupted by the extreme security measures being taken to protect a summit of European Union leaders that begins today. Residents fear anti-globalisation protests will turn nasty, as they did in Genoa and Gothenburg. They resent the presence of more than 15,000 police who have been sent to Barcelona to protect the delegates. "The city is very tense," says Enric Juliana, city editor at La Vanguardia, a Barcelona newspaper. "We feel under siege." For a city that works so hard to promote itself as a centre of metropolitan chic, a violent summit could be a marketing disaster for Barcelona, frightening off tourists who contribute more than 10 per cent of its livelihood. Since the WTO's 1998 meeting in Seattle, city authorities have come to see gatherings of world leaders more as a liability than as an opportunity to showcase their wares. Barcelona's business elite also wishes the EU summit had been held elsewhere. Spain's intelligence services have warned prominent businessmen that Eta, the armed Basque separatist group, may attempt to kidnap them during the summit. Banks have had to reinforce security because of bomb threats. "If anti-globalisation protests turn violent - and more than 20 demonstrations will be held over the weekend - our offices are an obvious target. We are bracing ourselves for a lot of vandalism," a senior bank executive says. Anti-globalisation protesters say that if there is violence it will be the fault of police for failing to control "provocateurs". Bernard Cassen, French founder of Attac, says governments have a vested interest in portraying the anti-globalisation movement as violent. Yesterday he criticised the heavy police presence on the border between Spain and France. "The EU wants to liberalise energy and transport, but it prevents the free movement of people," Mr Cassen said at a press conference in Barcelona. Police have turned away more than 100 would-be demonstrators at the border. They have confiscated baseball bats, pick axes and hollow tubes. A Barcelona-Real Madrid soccer derby on Saturday will add to their worries. So police are not taking any chances. The city's main thoroughfare, the Diagonal, has been closed to traffic for the duration of the summit. Metro stations in the vicinity of the summit conference centre have also been shut down. The University of Barcelona, with 65,000 students, has also decreed a two-day holiday because its main campus lies with the summit's security zone. All of this will ensure that the summit takes place in sealed surroundings, with no contact allowed between foreign dignitaries and city dwellers. For those who worry about the relevance of EU policy to ordinary Europeans, the isolation of its leaders is an apt metaphor. www.ft.com/barcelona