[mobglob-discuss] France, ANNEMASSE, Media: French Police Teargas Anarchists in G8 Eve Clash

[Gordon Flett]

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A - I N F O S  N E W S  S E R V I C E 
http://www.ainfos.ca/ 
http://ainfos.ca/index24.html 
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ANNEMASSE, France (Reuters) - French police fired teargas on Saturday to
disperse several hundred anarchists in the first major disturbance ahead
of a summit of the "Group of Eight" leading industrialized countries.
Eyewitnesses said the incident came after the protesters marched from an
anti-G8 campsite near the French town of Annemasse on the Swiss border
to blockade a building where French Socialist Party activists were
meeting. It was the first clash in what both protest leaders and police
had said would be a series of peaceful marches and sit-ins during the
three-day summit in the nearby French spa town of Evian, which opens on
Sunday. 

Authorities on both sides of the border, fearful of a repetition of
violence that rocked a G8 summit in Genoa, Italy, two years ago, have
mounted a massive security operation involving some 25,000 police and
security officials. 

It was not immediately clear why the anarchists, carrying their
traditional black-and-red flags, decided to march against the socialists
-- although hard-left movements generally regard social democratic
parties as "hirelings of capitalism." 

Marchers said they threw stones at the building where the socialists
were meeting to discuss the G8 summit after guards inside fired a spray
at them. There was no immediate comment from the socialists. 

The anarchists began setting up barricades but French riot police moved
in, firing volleys of teargas to push them back to the campsite at
Annemasse airfield, where earlier in the day protesters were instructed
in passive resistance techniques. 

Police barricades were going up on both sides of the French-Swiss border
around Lake Geneva to halt protesters trying to move off permitted
routes. Army helicopters circled overhead. 

In Lausanne, across Lake Geneva from Evian, various groups denouncing
the G8 leaders, who include President Bush and Russian President
Vladimir Putin, were considering ways to try to block water traffic. 

While most G8 leaders are staying around Evian, about a dozen prime
ministers and presidents who are summit guests, including China's Hu
Jintao, will stay in Lausanne and travel across Lake Geneva from the
Swiss to the French side. 

Protesters accuse the G8 chiefs of acting like "Masters of the Universe"
and say the poorer nation leaders -- who include Brazil's new left-wing
President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva -- will get nothing more than crumbs
from them. 

The G8 include Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia
and the United States. 

What We're Doing in Annemasse by Poon 1:55pm UK Indymedia Sat May 31 '03 

A trip from the Intergalactique camp to the local supermarket took an
unexpected turn today when we found ourselves in the midst of several
hundred people on their way to protest at a meeting of the French
Socialist Party. Much like New Labour in Britain, the Socialist Party in
France has more in common with the G8 leaders in Evian than with those
of us who want to expose the effects of their policies. Given this, a
group decided to pay a visit to a meeting of the "Socialists" in
Annemasse and we went along for the ride :-) 

For a tense 30 minutes or so outside the meeting, demonstraters banged
on the windows and tried to get in to the hall. Eventually stones and
other things to hand were thrown at, and then through, the windows. The
police, who were nowhere to be seen before this point, soon arrived.
They were very quick to use tear gas which sent the crowd slowly back
towards the camp. Local people were cheering us on and throwing bottles
of water from their windows and balconys for us to wash off the gas. One
family were lowering a bucket from their balcony for our empty water
bottles which they re-filled and passed back to us. 

The police then spent several hours pushing the crowd back towards the
camp, firing a lot of gas as they went. I think the action was useful in
that it made clear to the French Socialist Party that their version of
Socialism (i.e. neo-liberalism!) is not a part of our movement of
movements for social change and globalisation from below! It was also
good to see so much support from local people :-) 

Photos at: 

Geneva, May 30 

http://sf.indymedia.org/news/2003/05/1615019.php
http://germany.indymedia.org/2003/05/52809.shtml
http://www.indymedia.ch/fr/2003/05/9823.shtml
http://www.indymedia.ch/fr/2003/05/9849.shtml
http://switzerland.indymedia.org/fr/2003/05/9783.shtml
http://sf.indymedia.org/news/2003/05/1615118.php
http://ch.indymedia.org/itmix/2003/05/9833.shtml 

Lausanne, May 29 

http://www.indymedia.ch/de/2003/05/9644.shtml
http://sf.indymedia.org/news/2003/05/1614861.php 

Links at: 

http://indymedia.org/g8/ http://switzerland.indymedia.org/en/
http://uk.indymedia.org/ 

Link: http://indymedia.org/g8/ 


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