|
|
|
Notícies :: criminalització i repressió |
|
Solidarity Action in the US with Barcelona anarchists
|
|
|
per p |
27 jun 2007
|
|
On Tuesday 26 June, anarchists in the US organized a solidarity action with people suffering repression in Barcelona. |
On Tuesday 26 June, anarchists in the US organized a solidarity action with people suffering repression in Barcelona. All day long, people from across the US called, faxed, or emailed their protests to the Spanish Embassy in Washington, DC, demanding that all charges be dropped against two people arrested in Barcelona on 23 April after a squatters demonstration. They also complained about the torture of prisones in Spain and the general climate of repression created by police. One of those arrested on 23 April is a US citizen.
Freedom for the St. Jordi detainees!
On 23 April, incidentally the Catalonian St. Jordi holiday, la Assemblea d'Okupes de Barcelona held a small protest on La Rambla, holding a banner that read “A city without squats is a dead city� and handing out flyers explaining the reasons for squatting as a direct action against gentrification and a liberation from capitalism. A petardo was set off at the end of the demonstration to scatter flyers into the air. The Guardia Urbana took advantage of the loud noise to treat the protest as a semi-terrorist incident. They arrested one of the demonstrators, Javier Mazas, and subsequently also took into custody an anarchist from the US, Peter Gelderloos, who was witnessing the arrest. The police accused the two of being terrorists, and later the investigating judge and prosecutor described the petardo as a mortar and called the protest an urban guerrilla act. Police also lied and said they saw the two set off the petardo. They charged the two with illegal demonstration and public disorder, the latter carrying a prison sentence of between six and three years because it was allegedly committed with explosives. On 25 April, Javier was released pending trial, and Peter was given a 30,000 euro bail and sent to Modelo prison. The national police also initiated a deportation proceeding against Peter, along with a 7 year ban from the Schengen territories (western Europe), falsely stating that he was in Spain illegally, while supressing the evidence that would prove otherwise. On 27 April, the bail money was raised and Peter was released, though he has to stay in Spain and sign in at court every two weeks until trial, which may take two years or longer.
This is another cynical attempt by the Barcelona police to exploit people's fear of terrorism and repress the social movements. For the people, terrorism is a serious thing, involving war and death. For the police and politicians, heartless machines, terrorism is an opportunity, a pretext to use their power against their enemies. But a firework is not a weapon, a protest is not terrorism, and their repression will not silence us.
Absolution for the St. Jordi detainees!
Solidarity with all prisoners! |
This work is in the public domain |
|
Re: Solidarity Action in the US with Barcelona anarchists
|
|
per (A) |
27 jun 2007
|
|
És bo veure que la solidaritat anarquista és ben present arreu del món. |
|
Re: Solidarity Action in the US with Barcelona anarchists
|
|
per anarko |
27 jun 2007
|
|
es bo, i reconfortant :D |
|
Re: Solidarity Action in the US with Barcelona anarchists
|
|
per REDWARRIOR |
28 jun 2007
|
|
Congratulations for the USA friends. Solidaritat anticapitalista i antifeixista |
