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Raising
profile The idea behind many
of the actions was to demand the right to have the principles heard
at the conference. We asked to have them read out, using the incentive
that the 123 people blocking the main road in Bonn would leave if
they were read out. Secondly we took the message directly to them
by doing a banner drop just outside the security cordon but within
site of the Maratim Hotel, where the conference was taking place.
Finally we took the message into the closing session of the whole
fiasco. Entertainment with a strong message was also provided. The front line Samba band was in fine form all day keeping the spirits up and feet tapping (for those who could move their feet....) Alchemy, an Australian group of artists/activists campaigning against Uranium mining performed. And good old Rinky Dink the solar/human powered cycle sound system were pumping out their message of sustainability to any one within hearing distance or able to pickup their FM radio transmission. The atmosphere was great, resistance with a clear message; to get our 12 principles read out in the opening session. Many of the people there had never been involved in this kind of direct action before. As the police line closed in around us hardly anybody left despite repeated warnings and opportunities to leave. The Samba band kept going for at least four hours straight. Most of the police were reasonable with notable exceptions of a few totally unnecessary kicks, standing on people and trying to pull peoples arms out of tubes that they were clearly not going to come out of. People decided how far they would resist arrest, most holding on until they were dragged away or cut out of their arm tubes or D-Locks. Each and every one of the people lead away and detained got a big cheer. At the police station the party atmosphere continued in the three large holding cages. When we were released we were met outside with beer, biscuits and a train ticket back to Bonn. We wait to see the legal ramifications of the action but at the moment it’s looking like they may try and go for a small fine. Many people will not be paying their fines but donations are welcome to help people who would prefer to pay- contact info@risingtide.nl. Crane
Action The police were
not happy and pressured us from the outset claiming that it would
cost 10,000DM if they had to get the fire brigade to get us down
and asking for "just a couple of you come down to show ‘good
will"! They also arrested our ground support and police liaison,
falsely claiming they had tried to climb the crane as well. Finally
there were only two of us left plus our cameraperson. We both absailed
(rappelled) off the crane as the special forces climbers climbed
up. One of us finally came down of their own accord just before
they had to lower him down, the other was not going to help them
at all so they had to cut the rope and lower them down. A nice soft
landing was provided by the fire brigade in the form of a inflatable
airbag. Once again we were all out of the police station within
a couple of hours. I was in the team that entered the final session with forged press passes — we used press passes so as not to infringe on the groups with NGO accreditation. (as it turned out they weren’t allowed into the final session anyway). Unfortunately our press badges were checked against a list of participants and we were rumbled by security - we may get prosecuted for forgery. Whilst being lead out by security one of us managed to give them the slip and join the ‘beam team’, the remaining banner crew got the banner out and jumped on desks of varying strengths to get their message over and despite some stubborn zips the naked duo managed to strip off whilst security guards flapped around in differing degrees of embarrassment and bewilderment. The message was article 19 of the UN human rights convention about the rights to free speech. In the confusion the banner team slipped out of the centre passed the police rushing to the scene of the action, nice one! The beam team
talked to the bemused delegates press and NGOs for about 40 minutes
until they decided that everybody who was going to listen to us
had and it was time to leave. We negotiated with the UN secatariate
to leave of our own accord if we could go and talk to the press
in the press tent. Very reasonable we thought, however the UN secretariat
and security had different ideas. They led us out the back, through
some glass doors into the arms of waiting police. It seems that
they told them we were ‘violent black block from Genoa’.
The police were very nervous despite outnumbering us about 5 to
1 directly and about 500 to 1 in the whole security zone. They used
totally unnecessary plastic zip ties to handcuff us behind our backs
before being put into a sweltering police van. Three women were
put in one tiny cell without the fan on and still cuffed. Once we
arrived at the station we were left for about 20 minutes before
we were finally let out. One of the women passed out due to the
terrible heat, lack of air and horribly cramped cell. For more information and photos: http://www.climate.indymedia.org |