>From: "F J BERNAL" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: STOP NATO!- �No Pasar�n! <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >Asunto: Fw: Prague IMF protests (Postmark Prague) >Fecha: Wed, 27 Sep 2000 10:46:13 -0500 >De: "KEN BIGGS" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >POSTMARK PRAGUE No.319 >News Release >Wednesday 27 September 2000 > >FIRST DAY OF IMF SUMMIT BROUGHT TO AN EARLY END >The 15,000 delegates to the 55th annual meeting of the IMF and >World >Bank >in Prague were forced to end the first day of their summit early >yesterday. >The numerically weaker Czech and international opponents of >capitalist >globalisation mobilised by the Initiative aganist Economic >Globalisation >(INPEG) outwitted and often outfought the FBI-coordinated forces of >"law >and order" 12,500 police and soldiers equipped with helicopters, >armoured >vehicles, water cannon, tear gas and rubber bullets. > >If the protesters failed to prevent the opening of the IMF/WB >meeting by >President Vaclav Havel earlier in the day, by nightfall the police >were >in >disarray and planning to bring in reinforcements from other parts of >the >Czech Republic. > >The man behind the aggressive policing on the Czech Republic's >borders >and >in Pargue in the run-up to the summit, 30-year-old Social Democrat >interior >minister Stanislav Gross (a former 1989 "velvet revolutionary"), was >visibly shaken when he appeared on TV to deplore the violence >which >broke >out in several parts of central Prague yesterday. This was of course >immediately blamed on "foreign extremists", specifically the >contingents >of >Italian and Greek protesters, even though many young Czechs >anarchists >took >part. The detention of a train at the start of the week carrying 700 >mainly >Italian demonstrators on the Czech borders for 17 hours by the >xenophobic >Czech Aliens' Police is hardly the best way of putting >anti-globalisation >protesters in the sweetest of moods. > >BBC World TV's man in Prague reported that he had seen police >officers >dressed up as protesters leaving the vicinity of the IMF conference >venue >during the day a claim also made by INPEG and other journalists. >No >doubt, >it was a tactic employed by the police to disrupt INPEG's plans for >peaceful mass civil disobedience by demonstrators in pursuit of >their >aim >of blockading the conference venue. > >The well-prepared anarchists, both Czechs and foreigners, duly >obliged, >ripping down police barriers and hurling rocks, cobblestones and >petrol >bombs at the police lines. An estimated 50 police were injured, >compared >with 20 protesters. There were some arrests, and INPEG's legal >adviser >complained that the police had denied them their legal right to >make a >telephone call. > >But the protesters' numbers were not the 15-50,000 expected by >INPEG largely because of government, police and media >intimidation in >the >run-up to the IMF conference and the failure of the trade unions and >the >local Communist Party to mobilise their tens of thousands of >members for >the protest. Both are on record as favouring "dialogue" and reform of >the >IMF and the World Bank, unlike the Czech Communist Union of >Youth and >other >left-wing youth organisations which demand their abolition and >replacement >by new democratically formed and accountable international >institutions. > >Selective violence, in the form of attacks on banks and fast-food >outlets >(MacDonalds and Kentucky Fried Chicken), continued into the >night as the >police gave up and Czech and local anarchists took over the >streets. > >Clearly the Czech anarchists and not only their foreign comrades >were >involved in this. Only branches of the Commercial and the >Investment and >Postal banks were attacked. Both of these banks are foreign- >owned and >currently the subject of scandals and investigations into the >embezzlement >of clients' assets and money-laundering. >END > >EDITORS! Your readers can obtain a free sample copy of the 16- >page >illustrated Postmark Prague monthly news review by writing to PP, >PO Box >42, 182 21 Prague 8, or e-mailing [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > >______________________________________________________________________ >To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Get on EqualFooting and get $25 back! >Find everything your office will ever need-and get $25 back on your >first purchase of $50 or more! For everything from erasers to printer >paper-click and get on 'equal footing' today. >http://on.linkexchange.com/?ATID=27&AID=1482 > _______________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi _______________________________________________________ Kominform list for general information. Subscribe/unsubscribe messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Anti-Imperialism list for anti-imperialist news. Subscribe/unsubscribe messages: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________________
