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Teargassed in Madrid, March 21, 2003 national |
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news report
 Saturday March 22, 2003 12:28 by Tom Spain tomspain at teleline dot es
 Peaceful marchers teargassed in Madrid, March 21, 2003, Eyewitness account Madrid, Friday 21st March For the first time in my life today I was fired at. I had been watching the news on the television complete with live pictures of the terrible bombing of Iraq when they reported that thousands of people were demonstrating against the war outside the US embassy. About an hour later a large march passed the end of my road going up Atocha street towards the centre of Madrid. I ran down to join them - they numbered thousands rather than hundreds - and we marched peacefully but noisily, cutting off all traffic along the way. I was more or less in the middle of the body of marchers. It was mainly young people of 18 to 25 but there were middle-aged people as well, including a mother and her daughter and a husband and wife near me. Many people clapped and shouted encouragement as we pased. When we were approaching the top of the street I heard what sounded like gunfire and looked up to see tear-gas canisters raining down on us. There had been no violence at all from the crowd, who in fact responded by chanting “¡Estas manos, nuestras armas son!” ( Our hands are our only weapons ). We ran back down the street, regrouped and headed for Sol - Madrid’s central square. A similar pattern occurred. Traffic through the square was blocked as people staged a sit-down protest which included drawing chalk silhouettes of each other on the ground to simulate bomb victims. Twenty minutes later the police charged again, once again firing tear gas canisters. And once again there had been no provocation and no violent incidents. However, as we ran up the street out of the square people were pulling rubbish bins and boxes into the middle of the street as makeshift barricades against the police. There was a general call to head for Lavapiés – one of Madrid’s oldest central neighbourhoods with a large artist and immigrant population. I left at this point and as I made my way home down Atocha street I saw that some recycling containers had been dragged into the street and up-ended and a bin had been set on fire. Small groups of protestors were chanting at the riot police who were still there in full battle regalia. I saw one young girl shouting at one of the policemen who told her to “Go to hell, slut!” ( ¡Vete a la mierda, guarra! ), at which point she chanted “Policía - Asesina!” ( Police - assassins ) back . He immediately raced after her and hit her as hard as he could across the backs of her legs with his truncheon. When I arrived home and turned on the news they had a brief report about demonstrators staging a sit-down protest to cut off the Castellana, the city’s main North-South avenue. It appeared that they had been trying to get to the headquarters of the Partido Popular but police barriers had stopped them. Once again the protest appeared to be peaceful but, with the tv camera rolling, the police baton-charged. I left the march at about 11 o’clock and as I write at one in the morning I can still hear the police helicopter not far away. One of the crowds favourite chants questioned the fact that we really live in a democracy. On the evidence of tonight I’m not so sure either. Tom Spain |
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Comments (7 of 7)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7Proper bleddy order ye shower of trouble makers ....
A good bating is what ye all need ...
Ye should all go off and get proper jabs so dah ye can pay de rint on a seedy hole in wan of de many rack-rented slum properties I own around Dublin ....
And if I hear enny lip outa ye, I'll give ye a whack wit my truncheon ....
Only evil dictators like Sodom INsane behave in that manner to their captive peoples ....
No democratic regime would engage in such outrageous violation of its peoples' rights ...
I can't find my way around the Madrid Indymedia site. Anything on this afternoon/evening? Where? What time?
the concentrations at PP Chamber of Delegates and USA UK embassies has not been called to stop yet.
this is trade unionist /students union line up for Espana today:
you could go join the actors in front of the Exterior Ministry.
lots of make up.
Por la mañana, a las 12.00, se sucederán movilizaciones en Bilbao, bajo el lema "No a la guerra contra Irak. Gerrariz ez", en la Plaza de Numancia de Santander, en Torrejón de Ardoz (Madrid), donde se realizará una concentración-acampada frente a la base aérea, o en el Parlamento de Navarra. Además, está prevista la concentración de cadenas humanas en diferentes localidades. También está la convocatoria de la Unión de Actores en Madrid frente al Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores. Una de estas cadenas humanas es la que se realizará desde Playa de San Lorenzo, frente Escalerona en la ciudad de Gijón, a las 13.00.
Girona, 12:00h. Manifestación en la Rambla
Guadalajara, 12:00h. Cadena Humana. Pza Ayuntamiento a sede del PP
Manifestación en la Plaza de la Merced, 12:00 Malaga
Manifestación desde la Plaza de la Paz a las 11:00 h. Sta Cruz de Tenerife
Manifestacion 13:00 Plaza Nueva. Sevilla
Por la tarde
En territorios como Toledo, Cuenca o Ávila, las protestas están convocadas a las 19.00 de la tarde, mientras que en Zaragoza, la manifestación contra la guerra, organizada por la Asamblea Ciudadana contra la guerra, se realizará a partir de las 20.00.
En Vigo para el sábado está prevista una nueva manifestación convocada por la Coordenadora Galega pola Paz que saldrá a las siete del cruce de Vía Norte con Urzáiz. En Pontevedra hay convocada una manifestación a las siete de la tarde en la Praza da Ferreiría, a partir de las siete de la tarde. En Coruña a las siete de la tarde manifestación desde a praza da Palloza hasta delegación de Gobierno.
Manifestación multitudinaria 17:00 h, Pl. Espanya-Av. Paral·lel-Pº Colom-Delegación del Gobierno. Barcelona
Lleida, 19:00 h. Concentración delante de la sede del PP
Tarragona, 20:00h. Concentración en la Rambla Nova
Toledo, 19:00h. Plaza Ayuntamiento-Zocodover
Vitoria-Gazteiz, Iparralde (antiguo matadero), 18:00h
Manifestación en los Jardines del Triunfo.Granada, 19:00 h.
Manifestación sábado 22 de marzo 18 horas Jardines de los Patos Foro Social de Córdoba
Pza Altozano- Subdelegación del Gobierno (Se está manteniendo un encierro en la Diputación de Albacete hasta el sábado a las 18 horas) Albacete, 18:00h.
Alcoi, 18:00 h, Manifestación desde el Passeig de Cervantes hasta la Plaça d\'Espanya. Organiza: Coordinadora per la Pau de L\'Alcoià i el Comtat.
Cuenca, 19:00h. Manifestación Plaza Estación-Plaza Constitución
Donostia-San Sebastian, Boulevard, 18:00h Ciudad Real, 19:00h.Concentración Plaza Mayor
La cita en Madrid se llevará a cabo a las 18.00 de la tarde desde el Intercambiador de Autobuses de Moncloa se volverán a tomar las calles en otra marcha ciudadana.
Tres horas más tarde, a las 21.00, se ha convocado una concentración en la Plaza Mayor madrileña, por parte de los sindicatos y a la que se sabe que aistirán miembros del PSOE.
Seguro que no he conseguido recopilar todas, pero tratemos de completar todas las convocatorias entre nosotros y nosotras y acudamos!
Madrid lazy.
Barcelona money grabbing.
Madrid Barcelona Barcelona Madrid.
they are just chalk and cheese.
In the capital of surrealism and anarchy someone has moved from
Placeta del Pi
to
Arc del Teatre corner of Parallel.
I'll be going to Moncloa later
Hello Bealtaine.
I didn't see your comment until yesterday. I'm glad you got the info.
"Cultura contra la guerra" are the ones organising most of the demos. They have their own website at www.culturacontralaguerra.org
Feel free to get in touch