-Caveat Lector- from: http://praha.indymedia.org/ Click Here: <A HREF="http://praha.indymedia.org/">IndyMedia Center Prague -</A > ----- Indymedia is a collective of independent media ogranizations and hundreds of journalists offering grassroots, non-corporate coverage of politics, protest and life around the world. Overview |Newswire | Critical Eye | Background | Global Action IMF Meetings Close Early After Protests The IMF and World bank meetings have finished in Praha after enormous protests successfully blockaded the convention center. police use chemical weapons on demonstrators durring S26. UPDATE S27: 20:31 The are confirmed reports of extreme brutality inside the jails. People have been gased inside the prisions, beaten, tied, and sexually harrased. People "looking" like protestors have been randomly targeted on the streets. The Ministry has cut relations off with OPH- the legal observers. At this moment there is a large party gathering in the Old Town Square. UPDATE S27: 20:01 400 nonviolent protestors are occuping the Charles Bridge. Police are apperantly closing in from both sides. The demonstrators from Old Town Square have moved to the bridge. UPDATE S27: 19:38 Police are surrounding 10 Polish activists at Namisti Republiky. UPDATE S27: 19:33 Gatherings are happening at Old Town Square. About 200 people are demonstrating and hundreds of cops are in the area. UPDATE S27: 18:55 Festive gatherings have been called for this evening at the Charles bridge- Karlov Most. UPDATE S27: 18:05 We have a confirmed report that the IMF meetings for tomorrow have been cancelled. The word from the IMF is that they are closing early and that their meetings had finished anyway. UPDATE S27: 16:25 We have had a report that President Havel was spotted in the Muzeum metro area and now headed toward the Namisti Miru area. More Breaking News Summary of S26 Solidarity actions from around the world. Live Audio from Radio-Jelani and Video Stream. REPORTS ON S26 26.9.00IMC Summary of S26 Tuesday September 26 saw the outbreak of massive demonstrations against the IMF/World Bank annual meeting that is taking place here at the moment. Protestors from all over the world collectively besieged the summit with up to 20.000 people maintaining a circular blockade of the conference facilities, and some even gaining access to the heavily-guarded complex itself. Protests were city wide and numerous, both peacful resistance and active confrontations occured with a single united voice - Shut down the IMF - Shut down the World Bank. [read more] Undercurrents Report on S26 in Praha The images presented to the planet when the International Monetary Fund and World Bank hold their annual joint meetings are not ones of men in suits making key decisions for entire nations. The latest images are now of young people playing drums and waving banners, often lost in smoke and tear gas fired from riot police. Today, as the meetings got underway in Prague�s former Communist-era Palace of Culture, a police and army guard set out to ensure the security of the �castleS as activists have dubbed it. Around 8000 activists are on the streets of the capital of the Czech republic to disrupt the meetings, taking inspiration from the actions in Seattle and Washington DC. [readmore] Despite Police Repression, S26 Success Editorial by T. Moore After a day filled with intense confrontation with police, demonstrators managed to actually completely surround and practically enter the IMF meetings. While corporate media has focused entirely on the so-called "violent, black-clad, pierced, and unwashed anarchists," they have completely neglected to mention that the policies of the IMF, World Bank, and WTO can no longer be tolerated. The police outside the convention center were protecting the IMF meetings from having public participation in them. We are people who are governed by the policies of the IMF, the World Bank, the WTO, and the myriad of other economic institutions, with no voice in them. We do not govern our selves- we are governed by the tyranny on unaccountable economic institutions. We want to make decisions about our lives for ourselves- as a community, as families, as people, as children. The people on the streets yesterday were demanding a right to their own political power- not just for debt cancellation, not just for the reform of the IMF and the World Bank. S26 was about realizing a new day, a day were the people can choose the kind of society that we want to live in. S26 SOLIDARITY ACTION REPORTED AROUND THE WORLD 26.9.00The World Joins Praha in S26 Actions Reports on a few of the S26 solidarity actions on this International Day of action: San Francisco | LA | Berkely | Seattle | Tacoma | Portland, Rail Shutdown | Boulder | Denver | Boise | Gainsville | Tuscon | Chicago | New Brunswick | Providence | Boston | New York | Hartford | Washington DC | Pittsburg | Buffalo | Hadley | Toronto | Montreal | Belo Horizonte | Geneva | Stavanger | Wroclaw | Madrid | Bristol, UK | Lisbon | Duluth | Tel-Aviv | Stockholm | Netherlands | Dakka, Bangladesh | Upsalla, Sweden | Sydney 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 | Kiev | Moscow | Mumbia, India | Melbourne | on-line] IMC PUBLIC ACCESS TERMINAL �News From the Public Access Terminal IMC-Praha has a public access terminal in the streets today. Check out stories being published live from the streets: first reports | second reports INTRODUCTION �The IMF/World Bank are currently holding their 55th annual summit in Prague. Thousands of people are continuing to converge in the city to highlight their opposition to the poverty, environmental destruction and social injustice created by these institutions. This is part of a growing worldwide movement against corporate globalisation. Michael Albert's Primer on the IMF Mark Weisbrot's Protests Keep Spotlight on IMF and World Bank Failures IMF on the Ropes By Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissmant Rallies, art festivals, conferences and direct action are happening every day for the duration of the summit. Stay online... stay in touch! IMF POLICY AND UNREST 26.9.00IMF Policies Linked to Widespread Protest A new by the World Development Movement reveals that protests and riots against the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and its policies, are taking place in poor countries around the world. Since the Seattle protests ten months ago there have been at least 50 separate episodes of civil unrest in 13 poor countries, all directed at the IMF. Half of these protests have ended in violent clashes with the police or military. In one country the protests led to a military coup. [ readmore] S26 NETSTRIKE!! 26.9.00Global Electronic Netstrike sets its sights on IMF.org In support to demonstrations on Prague an on-line demonstration is organized, it is opened to everybody. This demonstration is apolitical, its purpose is not destruction, but only to show to the international oligarchy how much we are against the devastation of economies, populations and environment for the only profit of a minority. The Federation of Random Action has began a direct demonstration on internet and are planning on-line civil disobedience on September 26 from 12:00PM to 12:00AM (UTC/GMT time) More Information on the strike can be found at Toy Z Tech BANNER HANG 25.9.00Activists Hang Banner on Bridge to Convention Center Two Polish and one American activist were detained by Czech secret police after they hung a banner on the bridge leading to the convention center where the IMF meetings are being held. Tedd Vain, one of the three climbers detained, said that their action "was to highlight connection between the IMF and corporations...the IMF and World bank are agents and tools of corporate power." While the activists were in the air, the struck a deal with the police that they would descend from their position after they hung their banner and would not be arrested. After all three had completed their descent, they were surrounded and taken in two cars by police without badges- a direct violation of Czech law. All three activists were released after more than three hours of detention. They were fined 1000k each for the banner hang, released with no apparent restrictions, and had all of their climbing gear and banners returned to them. "They seem to be under very real pressure to make the meetings run smoothly- they didn't want to make a big deal out of this banner hang the night before the meetings start." The central reason for the banner hang was to indicate that the only way that people have to participate in the IMF meetings is to demonstrate outside them. "They won't let us in. We can't participate in meetings that effect everyone in the world. Protest is a way that we can communicate with them." For the journalists and delegates who flocked to the bridge to see the enormous banner that was hung saw the message of the protest. Blowing in the wind below the bridge the words on the giant blue banner were clear: No IMF, WB, WTO! End Corporate Rule! ITALIAN TRAIN UPDATE 25.9.00Italian Train Finally Arrives In Prague About 1200 mainly Italian protesters have finally arrived in Prague after a 19-hour border dispute with Czech authorities. Reports of riot police intimdation and "black list" arrest sheets. [read more] BORDER UPDATE 25.9.00INPEG press release on border situation According to INPEG the train with plus than 1.000 activists has been allowed to pass the Austrian-Czech border, and the train was then stopped twice by the police during its trip to Prague for unspecified reasons. Also, a Spanish activist was prevented from crossing the German border and his case is now being taken up with the Spanish embassy. SOLIDARITY MARCH FOR YA BASTA! 24.9.00Czech Ministry of Interior Confronted By Marchers photo by IMC-UK Marchers chanting 'Break law and order - let them cross the border!' are moving in on the Czech Ministry of Interior. Seventeen people were detained at the Czech-Austrian border this morning for riding towards Prague on a train carrying 1,000 activists from Ya Basta and other autonomous groups. Four other activists were taken away by police because the Czech police don't want to let them in the country. [read more] COUNTER SUMMIT DEALS WITH THE REAL ISSUES 23.9.00A Movement of One No and Many Yes's: The INPEG Countersummit photo by kate Whilst select members of the anti- corporate globalisation movement, were wined and dined in the palace, yesturday, courtsey of Havel, Soros and Wolfensohn, it was business as usual at the Domovina Cultural Centre, the location of the INPEG counter summit. Here a variety of thinkers were asking �|where do we go to from here?`. A common theme was that of strength in diversity. The philospopher George Caffentzis, comparing the movement to an Indian goddess with many arms. The anti-corporate/antiglobalisation/anti-corporate movement - take your pick- is often portrayed as crippled by its diversity. Whilst the speakers spoke of the necessity of a degree of organisational self relflection and evaluation, they were all optimistic. The alternative to corporate globalisation is frequently portrayed as anarchy, instead, said Walden Bello, it should be concieved of as plurality... [read more | listen | Where do we go from here?] FASCISTS AND ANTI-FASCISTS MARCH 23.9.00Anti-Fascists March Against Racism photo by devin asch An anti-fascist rally today at Namesti Miru square drew hundreds of supporters to counter the much smaller fascist group which met across town. Speakers decried racism and the rising tide of nationalist tendencies, through well articulated speeches and colorful banners. The rally then took the streets of Prague and marched for close to an hour. No confrontations were reported and Czech police accommodated the marchers by diverting traffic away from the unpermitted march. Tonight reports state that roving groups of skinhead nationalists are creating small confrontations when encountering anyone who looks like a protester. [ read more | commentary on fascism and anti-globalization anti-fa report ] SUPPORT YOUR RIGHT TO PROTEST Open Letter to V1/2clav Havel In November 1989, we won some fundamental democratic rights, including the right to free assembly and free expression of political opinions. With the fall of the Iron Curtain, we won the freedom to travel. With the birth of the Czech Republic in 1993, The List of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms became part of the Constitution of the Czech Republic. As in the 1970s and 1980s, our rights are formally guaranteed. However, in practice they are trampled on because they depend on the benevolence of bureaucrats. [ read more | auf deutsch ] NEWS FROM IMC-PRAHA IMC-Prague Call to Action The Independent Media Center of Prague calls you, journalists, media activists, and rabble-rousers of the world to join us in creating democratic, grassroots and political coverage of the S26 protests in Prague and around the world. We need you to bring your video cameras, mini disc recorders, laptop, photographic cameras to Prague to help work in the open, democratic, multi-lingual, and non-sectarian media center. If you can't make it to Prague, then cover the solidarity actions in your community and post the articles to the prague.indymedia.org website. [ read the call to action ] Prague, Czech Republic - protests against the IMF and World Bank, September 26 S26 People's Glogal Action Against Free Trade Radio Jeleni ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Don't believe the hype - bypass the corporate media machine - take control - make up your own mind. In September people attending the events will have the opportunity to contribute to this site - if you choose to stay at home, and not take part, then don't just passively consume the media spectacle, check out IMC Prague and get the real picture as the events unfold. UPCOMING IMC COVERAGE 9/20 - San Francisco - Media 9/26 - Prague - IMF 10/3 - Boston - US Debates For a complete list of upcoming actions, check out: protest.net. Chat about what's going on in prague. RECENT STORIES protesters reactions to "winning" (for radio, and others) (english) S27 18:41:06 self defence (english) S27 18:11:40 self defence (english) S27 18:09:59 self defence (english) S27 18:08:37 Herr Horst K�hler (english) S27 18:03:19 POLICE PRESENCE (english) S27 17:59:24 POLICE PRESENCE (english) S27 17:56:39 JUST A STONE'S THROW AWAY! (english) S27 17:48:21 Jail solidarity - people sit in public forum surrounded by riot police (english) S27 17:44:55 Celebrations in Prague as conference finishes early (english) S27 17:36:56 Solidarity actions from Turkey (english) S27 17:27:03 Protest In Portland Oregon (english) S27 17:18:56 Protest In Portland Oregon (english) S27 17:18:44 CNN poll: protesters heroes or villains? (english) S27 17:13:29 CNN poll: protesters heroes or villains? (english) S27 17:09:29 Continue to IndyMedia's newswire >> (c) Independent Media Center. 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