Police Storm Usine Cultural Centre in Geneva

Monday June 02, 2003 00:10

by hydrarchist - slash.autonomedia.org

Police raid at Usine, Gneeva

After the blockades on the bridges in the early morning and whilst the demonstration was going on to the French border France, scattered confrontations took place around city. From mid/afternoon the police maintained a heavy presence around 'L-Usine' (a cultural centre on the river), scene of previous clashes on the saturday night. Several hundred people were hanging out talking and drinking on the Place des Volontaires, blocked from leaving in the direction, and the situation oscillated between high tension and relative calm. Some time around seven the Usine kitchen brought down food to feed those in the square. After having spent all day in the Geneva03 studio I went down to have a look at the situation on the square. As I was standing near the front door a group a group of men dressed in casual street style clothing, many wearing sports shoes, bloack trousers jeans or shorts combined with T-Shirts and hooded tops cleared their way through the crowd and made straight for the entrance. The only thing identifying them as cops were their pink armbands marked 'police'. Each one was armed with a telescopic baton and most concealed their faces by means of bandanas, small gas masks over their noses and mouths. A group of twenty people blocked the door and some people working in the Usine tried to calm the police. They turned around for a moment and made as if to try the other side but almost immediately pivoted, their numbers incresed now to 15/20, and they proceeded to beat their way through the crowd. First people were thrown and pushed, then batoned, then came the shock/grenades and more blows with german tonfas. Several people were injured and we attempted to escape by the side of the building.

By this time police had entirely flooded the area, and as I slipped throgh the encirclement I saw another van full of plain clothes cops dismbark and prepare themselves for action. Thereafter more vans of cops arrived accompanied by German water cannons. Eleven people were arested: four women and seven men.
More in a few minutes. Rioting is ongoing in diffuse parts of the city.

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Comments (4 of 4)

I love police brutality

by cavan mckee - none

Mon Jun 02, 2003 08:38

coolcavan at hotmail dot com

Becouse they locked my mum her in a cell for 6to7 hours and batonedher and teargasd her. mum`s friend was hit in the leg with a tear gas charg and got a big scar.

Lausane mas

by Lisa

Mon Jun 02, 2003 09:03

links.

by iosaf - espai

Mon Jun 02, 2003 10:13

bcn

lots of panic raised by the assault on
Usine. One of the media centres is located @ the centre, for those unfamiliar with global mobilisations, generally several locations are used by autonomous and independent activists to collate and publish information. These media centres are often troubled by agents varying from the FBI in Seattle and Prague to the police this time in Usine.
read the Italian report @
http://italy.indymedia.org/news/2003/06/298628.php
read the catalan report @
http://barcelona.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=44330&group=webcast

[for non polyglots the italian version is rather disparaging of "black block" activists who couldn't wipe their momma's arse, and the catalan report also dwells on the "usefulness of the indymedia block, who allowed the centre to fall "gràcies companys, endavant així que guanyarem"= ·thanks comrades, onwards thus shall we win· [very heavy sarcasm there].

Both Italy and Barcelona report that live streaming is available radio still, and as we all know that was organised by "de visitors" [god bless 'em!]
{de visitors recieve years of tip top training to keep infoflow coming to ye even if the satelites are unplugged & "mammy" phones up asking for her four wheel drive back}

;-)

by ;-) - know your kernals and your crust.

Fri Mar 19, 2004 14:39

bzzzzzt.
yep. this one.
:-)

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Police Storm Usine Cultural Centre in Geneva

Comments (4 of 4)