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An expected 10,000 people are taking part in protests in Frankfurt, Germany on Wednesday over the opening of new headquarters for the European Central Bank. The protests, arranged under the ‘Blocupy’ banner, chose the opening due to the bank’s role in the implication of austerity policies across the continent, particularly in Greece. “We want the austerity politics to end,” Ulrich Wilken, one of the organisers, told Reuters. “We want a loud but peaceful protest,” he said. ECB's Celebration of Its New $1.4 Billion Tower Is Spoiled by Protesters by Angela Cullen and Jeff Black (Bloomberg) -- Anti-austerity protesters seeking to spoil the inauguration of the European Central Bank’s new headquarters in Frankfurt’s east end set vehicles alight, erected barricades and left a trail of destruction across the city. Police deployed water cannons to restore calm and keep the demonstrators at bay in the area surrounding the 1.3 billion-euro ($1.4 billion) tower, after setting up barbed wire and road blocks. . . . Protesters said police deployed tear gas. “We were moving toward the ECB and then tear gas cartridges were fired from the police lines,” said Martin Dolzer, a member of the Left party from Hamburg. The smoke “spread over a broad area; it was a very strong irritant.” Police are equipped with pepper spray and it’s possible they used the substance in defense, said Rogalski. . . . “In the past, we protested against things like the rescue of the banks in Europe,” Werner Renz, a representative of protest group Attac, said on Tuesday. “The focus of our protests this year is on Greece. We need more of Athens in Europe and less of Berlin. There is no way Greece can repay all its debt. The situation can’t be solved by austerity alone.” . . . Dozens of groups, including Syriza followers, are joining in the rally. The demonstrators planned to blockade the area around the ECB in “transnational actions of civil disobedience,” Blockupy said on its website. The ECB issued guidance to staff on dressing to avoid drawing attention. “Expansive monetary policy serves the financial markets and the wealthy first and foremost,” Sahra Wagenknecht, a lawmaker for the Left party in the Bundestag in Berlin who will address the crowds, said in an e-mail. “The money doesn’t reach the real economy as investment.” A rally outside the city hall at the Roemerberg, Frankfurt’s medieval square, is scheduled to run from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., ending with a march through the city to the Alte Oper near Deutsche Bank AG’s headquarters into the evening. Some public transport services will be disrupted or diverted, and traffic will be rerouted. . . . <http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-18/ecb-besieged-by-protests-as-draghi-celebrates-1-4-billion-tower> ‘Blockupy’ Protests Break Out in Frankfurt as ECB Opens New Building ECB President Mario Draghi defends bank policies by Natalia Drozdiak and Sarah Sloat Wall Street Journal March 18, 2015 FRANKFURT—Violence erupted in parts of Germany’s financial capital Wednesday alongside demonstrations timed to disrupt the inauguration of the European Central Bank’s new headquarters. Thousands of activists descended on Frankfurt to protest against austerity, some of whom set cars alight or shattered glass near the new building. By noon, police had detained about 350 protesters and arrested five, a police spokeswoman said. At least 90 police and firefighters were injured by stones or tear gas. “We’re doing this on the day of the inauguration because there’s nothing to celebrate,” said Hannah Eberle, a spokeswoman for Blockupy, the group behind the protests. “There’s a crisis in Europe, especially southern Europe, and people are being asked to tighten their belts and we don’t accept that.” Blockupy announced plans in advance to gather around the ECB’s new building—which cost more than €1 billion ($1.06 billion) to build, compared with an initial estimate of €850 million—to obstruct streets with sit-ins and blockades. The anti-austerity group planned speeches and music aimed at disrupting the inauguration, where ECB President Mario Draghi spoke. One man held up a sign that read “ECB Monetary Fascism.” Another sign read “Caviar for All.” Police erected barriers near the ECB building in Frankfurt’s Ostend district while city authorities suspended some public transport. Police said it was difficult to estimate how many people attended Wednesday’s demonstrations, but about 10,000 gathered in the Römer square in the afternoon Ahead of the demonstrations, police planned to deploy around 8,000 officers. The activists, joined by representatives from leftist political parties including Greece’s Syriza, Spain’s Podemos and Germany’s Die Linke, say the ECB is partly responsible for enforcing policies that activists say are impoverishing parts of Europe. Austerity has resurfaced in the debate in Europe following Syriza’s Greek election victory in January. The party is negotiating with the ECB, the European Union and the International Monetary Fund—the so-called ”troika” of international creditors—over efforts by the country to overhaul the economy. “It’s important to be here and show that the troika’s policies are not being done in our name” said Judith, a 30-year-old protester who asked not to be identified with her last name. “We can’t always make cuts at poor people’s expense and call them lazy Greeks, but we need to stand by in solidarity with them,” she said. . . . The Blockupy protests follow the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations that began in 2011. Those protests spread to many cities around the world, with activists setting up camps in prominent locations to protest corporate greed and social and economic inequality. <http://www.wsj.com/articles/blockupy-protests-break-out-in-frankfurt-as-ecb-opens-new-building-1426667947> Protesters, police clash near new European bank HQ in Frankfurt by John O'Donnell and Frank Siebelt Reuters FRANKFURT March 18 (Reuters) - Anti-capitalist protesters clashed with riot police near the new headquarters of the European Central Bank (ECB) in Frankfurt on Wednesday and set fire to barricades and cars, casting a pall over the ceremonial opening of the billion-euro skyscraper. Some 94 police officers were injured by stones and tear gas flung by a violent minority from within the 3,500 protesters, police said. Rally organizers said there were 7,000 protesters, more than 100 of whom were injured by police. Seven police cars were set on fire, streets were blocked by burning stacks of tyres and rubbish bins, and shops were damaged in the city center. Dark smoke billowed in front of the 185-metre high ECB towers and over Frankfurt. Police used water cannon to try to make a path through the mass of black-clad protesters to the entrance of the building, blocked off from the street by barricades. A total of 550 protesters were detained. . . . "Our protest is against the ECB, as a member of the troika, that, despite the fact that it is not democratically elected, hinders the work of the Greek government. We want the austerity politics to end," Ulrich Wilken, one of the organizers, said. "We want a loud but peaceful protest," he told Reuters. Blockupy says it represents grass-roots critics of supranational financial institutions including the "troika": the ECB, the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund, whose inspectors monitor countries such as Greece and Cyprus that have received international bailouts. The ECB is also influential as a provider of finance to the banks of struggling countries and has in recent weeks sanctioned a drip feed of extra emergency finance to Greece's lenders. Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis last week criticized ECB policy towards Athens as "asphyxiating", a criticism also made by the protest organizers. <http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/18/us-ecb-protest-idUSKBN0ME0QH20150318> _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
