Date: Wed, 25 Jun 1997 12:15:22 +0100
From: Mr Nobody <mrnobody-AT-geocities.com>
Subject: Lealfet from Dutch Embassy protest June 18th, London


Here is the text of the leaflet handed out at the Dutch Embassy in
London on Wednesday 18th. The leaflet was written by someone who had
been in Amsterdam and returned on Monday 16th



EU ROT OP 


Saturday June 14th saw about 50 000 people turn out in Amsterdam for the
March for Social Justice. The majority of people there were protesting
against the increase in unemployment and social exclusion, they wanted a
socialist Europe in which all would be included. So this demonstration
was seen by them as an alternative to the Eurotop - the name given to
the Euro-summit. Many people at the demo, however, reacted against their
idea of a socialist Europe and instead met at an earlier time to show
their opposition to this and to wage slavery. 'Eurotop' broken down to
'Eu rot op' means 'EU fuck off' in Dutch and this was taken by many as
the slogan of the day. This contingent numbered only a few hundred,
however, and was completely marginalised by the lefty-socialist groups.

The demo set off at about 3pm and the contingent of red and black flags
was relatively close to the front. For the first half hour of the demo
as we walked through the main streets of Amsterdam there was a strange
scenario in that most people seemed to be standing on the sidelines
simply watching, taking pictures and waving! There did not seem to be
all that many people actually walking along. As we continued the
spectators diminished but nothing much happened until we got to the
junction where if we turned left we would be heading to the bank where
the Euro-summit was being held. Surprisingly enough the road which we
wanted to go down, to the left, was completely sealed off with riot
vans, but it was only policed by ordinary cops. 

Quite a few people stopped here and attempted to go to the left but
there was absolutely no chance of that. In this time something was
thrown at the police who responded immediately with a baton charge. This
led to a hail of bricks, bottles and stones which did actually stop them
for a short while, as they weren't in riot gear and so when hit were
injured. One brick got a camera full on and it smashed to pieces. This
caused a few other cameramen to turn away from photographing the
protesters in order to protect their equipment. This situation did not
go on for long as the police responded by driving the riot vans into the
crowd at what seemed like full speed. There was a mad scramble down the
street and the police had secured that junction again (not that it had
ever been really threatened). The attempt to go to the left was not
sustained, largely because of a lack of support from the majority of the
demo. At best it could be seen as a brief skirmish, the only highlight
of which was that no one was arrested.

The Dutch police were taking a very low-key approach to the whole demo.
>From the start there had been absolutely no cops walking along with the
protesters and that junction was the first time that they were seen.
They came in really hard here, but when the demo continued they
disappeared again.

The next point of interest was as we passed a bank. Various hooded - and
some stupidly unhooded - types proceeded to lob bricks and bottles at
its windows but didn't manage to break them. This went on for quite a
while as there were no police around, but people just got bored and left
without finishing the job. Then as we approached the police head
quarters people noticed an unmanned police van parked outside. It had
its windows put in and was then overturned. This time the police did
respond but it was quite a delayed response as all that was going to
happen had already happened. Nevertheless they proceeded to divide the
demo with the use of long batons and the threatened use of tear gas
guns. Riot vans were again driven into the crowd but after about five
minutes people were able to rejoin the rest of the demo as the police
disappeared into the back streets again.

A short while after this we ended up back where we had started and the
usual round of speakers started addressing the crowd in various
different European languages. Whilst hanging around in the square we
heard rumours that about 2000 Italians who had been on their way to join
the demo were being held in Amsterdam railway station by the police. It
turned out that the police had arrested about 200 Italians and many of
the others were now protesting at their detention by occupying one the
main road junctions outside the station. They were joined by many
anarcho-autonome types who had been on the demo but soon afterwards the
police started moving forward with batons drawn in an attempt to clear
the road. At this people got up and started walking away, but kept
together and moved away slowly. Though it was a retreat there was a real
show of strength involved too. This mini demo ended back at the Dom
where there were still things going on. Here one of the Italians got on
to stage and explained what was happening. 

Many Italians could not afford the train journey over to Amsterdam so
they had all turned up at the station and squatted the train. The
authorities tried to stop the train from leaving but they managed to
take it anyway. On arriving at Amsterdam, however, the Dutch police had
not allowed them to leave the station and had then arrested 200 of them
for allegedly damaging a couple of the carriages. These people were
still being held. In the meantime, however, people in Italy had heard of
what was going on and had gone and occupied the Dutch Embassy in Rome in
protest at this. The final thing we heard on that day was that the
Italians had all been deported. 
The next piece of news on them was that their train had been stopped in
the middle of nowhere in Germany and all the windows blacked. The German
and Dutch authorities wanted the Italian police to guarantee to arrest
them when the train arrived in Italy but the Italian authorities didn't
want to do that! Finally the train was allowed back into Italy and there
were no arrests (as far as is known).

Later that evening, back in Amsterdam, there were about 200 dodgy types
sitting outside Vrankrijk - a squatted punk bar. A limousine went by
which was instantly trashed and then an ordinary van had things thrown
at it as well. There was an outcry over the van being hit and the people
who had done it were confronted by others. Then a call came to move
towards the main police station and demand the release of people who had
been arrested. About a hundred people started walking and just before we
got to the station five or six riot vans began approaching the demo from
ahead. People split up and dispersed and were condemned for not standing
their ground despite being massively outnumbered by riot cops. There
were a few confrontations and people got beaten up and arrested. Some of
the arrests were by plain clothes cops which was quite disturbing. An
attempt was made to de-arrest someone being held by plain-clothes cops
but they immediately pulled out their guns and started waving them
around. This went on into the night.

The next day, Sunday, people met at 12pm at Amsterdam railway station
for a street party. Four sound systems were already there and once
people had amassed they all moved off together. The police tried to
guide them towards a warehouse where a free party had been situated the
previous night but people wanted a street party. So they got to
Visserplein Square and the party started to go ahead. Within a short
space of time, however, the party moved to the warehouse as the people
with sound systems had struck a deal with the police that if they went
there they would not be hassled. A lot of people were pretty disgusted
with this.

At 3 o'clock there was a sex riot in Nieuwmarkt which consisted of a few
people dressing up in extremely outrageous gear and various others
walking around with sex toys strapped to their heads and bodies. It was
basically a media stunt in response to the Mayor of Amsterdam's speech
where he had said that the coming week was an opportunity for the people
of Amsterdam to show the world that they were a great cultural city and
were not simply about sex and drugs. The media lapped it up and were
there in great numbers.

The next thing planned for that day was an evening of chaos and
fireworks starting around 9pm. 9pm arrived but there were hardly any
people around. Walking towards Vrankrijk to find out what was going on
we bumped into lines of riot cops and vans and horses! There was no way
of getting in and finding out what was going on so we stayed where we
were and talked to people. It transpired that at about 9 o'clock 350
people had left Vrankrijk to march towards the police station again to
demand the release of their comrades who had been arrested on the
previous nights. As the demo walked along police vans suddenly pulled
in, both in front of the demo and behind it and loads of cops got out
and sealed off the area around them. All the people immediately sat down
but the police proceeded to arrest every single person who was there.
This operation took them until about 12.30am. They quick-cuffed
everybody and herded them into buses, taking them to police stations
around Holland. 

They were arrested under Article 140 which states that the police are
allowed to arrest someone they believe to be a member of a criminal
organisation if they suspect that organisation of planning criminal
activity. This then allows them to hold people for three days. Even the
lawyers expressed surprise at the use of this law as it hardly ever
used. But it has been used and these people, of all different
nationalities, are being detained at least till Wednesday evening. Many
of them have refused to give their names and so the police are in the
process of investigating them further. Also quite a few of them have
gone on hunger strike refusing food and water in protest at being
detained.

On Monday there was a demonstration at a refugee prison in the outskirts
of Amsterdam. About a thousand people went along and it was a very
creative affair. Tennis balls were thrown into the compound with
messages taped to them and people later learned that this show of
support and solidarity had been heard and appreciated by the refugees
imprisoned in the detention centre. At the same time as this about 10
000 Kurdish people demonstrated in central Amsterdam against Turkey
joining the EC. There was also an ASEED demo against genetics. None of
these had any arrests.

Later in the evening, however, quite a number of people went around to
the various hotels in which the heads of state were staying and about a 
hundred were arrested for this. The explanation given by the police was
that they were being held for going into restricted areas. Some may have
been released but the general feeling was that they were not going to be
released until the summit had ended. 
During these arrests the police had cornered off a few people by a canal
and one enterprising individual escaped arrest by jumping in the canal
and swimming away! A tactic which ought to be more widely used in
Amsterdam!

On Tuesday 17th, the final day of the Euro-summit there was supposed to
be an autonomous demonstration to where the EU leaders were going to
present their new 'Amsterdam Treaty'. With so many people arrested,
however, it was unlikely to have gone ahead but the police made sure of
it by banning the demonstration. Nevertheless 1500 people went along to
it but were stopped from even coming close to the area they were
attempting to march to. It was still quite a buoyant day and there
doesn't seem to have been any trouble.

On Wednesday at 4 o'clock people protested outside their local police
stations in Holland - and over here in England there was a demonstration
outside the Dutch Embassy - to express our anger at the detention of
over 400 people still inside from being arrested at the weekend, and
call for them to be released. Sunday, the 22nd of June there was a
further demonstration against Article 140, in Amsterdam.

-- 

web:		http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill//Lobby/3909/
email:		mrnobody-AT-geocities.com
post:		BM Makhno, London WC1N 3XX, UK


     --- from list aut-op-sy-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---