Barcelona breaking news

national | miscellaneous | news report Friday March 15, 2002 21:27 by antrophe antrophe at hotmail dot com

Description of the latest actions

different demonstrations took place in different parts of barcelona; collblanc and lesseps bicycle ride, "lobby-buster" march and performance in the center; Tension in Sagrada Familia; Police charge and barricades in upper ramblas at 14:30.

Critical mass, Lesseps group.
At 9 in the morning some 60 cyclists met in front of Lesseps Metro Station. Starting from there they passed through Balmes, Diagonal and Sicilia, ending up in Sagrada Familia. The route was taken without police presence and with brief pauses at the crossroads of the main streets. Upon arriving at Sagrada Familia, joining with the actions of "lobby-busters", a police charge took place. The cyclists were separated, trapped by the police assault; they tried to rejoin the main group but a police contingent surrounded them, forced them to show their documents and also searched their bags. They detained them for more than an hour. Towards non-spanish they mantained an intimidating attitude, reminding them that they could easily be deported. Finally they were able to reach the "lobby-buster" meeting, followed by a police escort.

Intergalactic bicycle ride at Collblanc.
At 9 in the morning some 30 bikes met at the exit of the Collblanc Metro Statio. The police blocked access to the traffic at Carretera de Collblanc, Avenida Madrid, Numancia, Tarragona, Plaza de Espanya. In the same way 8 riot vans closed off the central carriage of Gran Via, stopped the bicicletada and quickly surrounded it, while police agents ran behind the bikes; the van doors were open, and out of them came more agents. They managed to identify all cyclists, except a few of them who managed to escape the vans. Police physically attacked a photographer who was taking photos of them demanding identification, and bloodied his right ear. The Police threatened with detention those who were still circling in the street, and forced them to use the cycle lanes; where there weren't any, to stay in a single lane of the street. During the rest of the route, motorized agents of the National Police followed the cyclists; and behind them there were white vans of the Agentes de Securidad. Finally the cyclists managed to join up with the "lobby-busters" in Paseo San Joan.

Heavy Riots in Ramblas

Fights between police and demonstrators occurred in different parts of the city. Riots took place in Ramblas, near Liceu (Barcelona) (AGENCIAS). - Policed charged against demonstrators in front of Liceu, meeting convened by Marc-Attack collective; Ramblas turned into a battlefield where some people had been arrested already. At 12:30, about 450 people according to the police, 600 according to the organization, began their protest action called "rich people also cry", in front of Liceu and Canaletas. After an hour of tense waiting, the "Guardia Urbana" closed the Ramblas while about 30 police vans appeared carrying more than a hundred policemen, who began to identify all demonstrators one by one and block access to the area in question. At 14:20 the Police began charging against all those that passed in front of Liceu, who were shouting slogans against the police. During the fight, demonstrators threw sticks, stones and bottles, and the police charged twice against them and began moving forward to calle Hospital. Barricades were constructed in the upper part of the Ramblas, the police used rubber bullets hurting demonstrators and journalists. People had to flee through the backstreets, while many bars closed up to avoid demonstrators taking refuge in them.

Also at the "lobby-busters" demonstration riots occurred from the beginning of the march, because - as the Government Delegation in Catalonia afirmed - the protest organizers didn't announce any oficial route, because it was supposed to be a sit-in. From the start of the protest, the police agents proceeded with identifying many of those present, including journalists. When the police requested that one of the protesters - returning from another act, the "Intergalactic bicycle ride" - that he remove his bicycle from the street, and he denied to do it, as well as to show his papers, a confrontation started that led to a police charge. The campaign action was supposed to traverse calle Mallorca looking for offices of national and international companies, to perform protest actions before them. It seemed that Police officers did not allow demonstrators to pass along calle Mallorca, but after the incidents they decided to take calle Provenca instead. At 11.40 am, the "lobby-busters" arrived at Paseo Sant Joan from calle Provenca. Four vans of the CNP followed them, in addition to various police on motorbikes. In Sagrada Familia police presence exceeded 30 agents, in 6 police vans. An anti-globalization activist was injured in the head, according to Europa Press. Police say that a group of demonstrators attacked some Riot Police agents (Unidad de Intervencion Policial, UIP), so they had to respond to the agression and clear the area