Arbeitslosenselbsthilfe O l d e n b u r g
Kaiserstr. 19
D-26122 Oldenburg (Oldenburg)
e-mail: also@also-zentrum.de
While people will have seen considerable coverage of the
European summit in Amsterdam there has been almost no
publicity for the demonstrations, many organised by
anarchists taking place against this summit, a demonstration
of the Unemployed was described by the Washington Post
"Earlier, between 35,000 and 50,000 people from across Europe
turned Amsterdam into a sea of red and black, marching to
protest against austerity caused by measures imposed in
many states to try to qualify for the European single
currency."
The account below from Italy describes the mass arrest and
deportation on a sealed train across Europe of 150 of the
Italian protesters.
A recapitulation of the story of the Italians their trains. As if
the train was hijacked. Only the roles had been swapped
radically. The police fenced in a train on the Central Station
in Amsterdam. Hundred and fifty of the passengers,
demonstrators coming from Milan, were not allowed to
leave the train. They were hostages for hours on the Central
Station. But why? As the police explained, these people had
destroyed two compartments of the train. What they
destroyed however, never became clear.
Luca, from radio Sherwood in Padova, later told the big
demonstration on the Damsquare stage, that italians from all
parts of Italy, had met friday at the Central Station of Milano,
to leave from there to Amsterdam.
They were with too many, so the one train was not enough.
The station was practically occupied by the demonstrators.
They managed to get another train by occupying it in the
meantime having negotiations with the authorities.
Luca on stage in Amsterdam saturday-evening: "Once in the
train on our way to Holland, we refused at each border to
show our documents. We presented ourselves as 'sans-
papiers', not citizens of states, but members of humanity. We
also refused to pay the train. Seen the fact that we were going
to demonstrate against disoccupation and for work, it's
obvious that we couldn't afford to pay for this trip."
He declared that the italians wouldn't leave Amsterdam
before their companions were released.
Small groups of demonstrators went from the Dam to the
Central Station to see if anything could be done. Various tries
to reach the train on the stations were blocked of by the
police, which kept them busy for hours late Friday afternoon.
The police acted pretty violent according to reports. In the
meantime the organizers of the big demonstration, the
Platform for a Different Europe, negociated with the police
and the mayor about releasing the hostages. It soon became
clear that the Platform tended to believe everything the
authorities said. Frases like 'if the Italians damaged the train,
I agree with their arrest' were heard from Platform-
organizers who were asked for an act of support for the
Italians.
At the beginning of the evening the 131 Italians from the
train were handcuffed with plastic strips (the ones that get
more tied as soon as you move.) They were shoved into
public transport busses and moved to the Bijlmerbajes, the
biggest jail of Amsterdam. The police started taking bringing
them in, taking photographs and fingerprints, but at 20.00
hrs, according to police-sources, the decision was taken to put
them on a train back to Italy.
They were transported to Sloterdijk train station (outside the
city) and rejoined with their fellow Italians.
But the story didn't end there. The first train was seen on a
side track in Maarn, near the city of Utrecht from 23.35 hrs
until about 2.00. The second train still had not left
Amsterdam at 2.30 hrs (!) In Arnhem the train was stopped
by the Italians themselves because they wanted food &
drinks, according to some reports. Another version claims,
the train had to wait until the border station in Emmerich -
Germany was staffed again. At 6.30 the train was still in
Arnhem, according to the official newsservice ANP. Early
this morning they were transferred to an other train.
The first train passed Karlsruhe at three in the afternoon, the
second train is one hour behind them, after a few hours of
delay in Mannheim. The police got onto the train and
proceeded to a massive identification taking names and
pictures of the people on the train. Nobody was allowed to get
out. The train was blinded, the windows taped with some
kind of plastic, what does this remind us of? And yes, the
people did get some water and something to eat.
At 20.00 hrs Saturday evening the train passed the Italian
border. The arrival in Lugano can be a problem, rumour has
it that foreign authorities (Dutch? German?) want to have
everybody arrested by the Italians. Italian papers today
mentioned negotiations with the Italian government.
Unclear though is who is negotiating. As it seems, from a
phonecall with someone in the first train, the italian
government don't want them to be arrested. Then who does?
The arrival of the train (if there won't be more unforessen
stops) is expected for 22.00 at the Milano Lambrate station. No
news is available about the press conference there.
This leaves us with a number of other questions. Who
ordered the hijack of the Italian train in Amsterdam? Why
was 90% of the people allowed to leave the train? Were the
131 remaining Italians so special? What was the legal ground
for this action?
The start of the large demonstration on Saturday was delayed
for almost two hours to await the train with Italian
companions. This solidarity vanished as soon as the police
held the train. Suddenly the Platform distanced itself from
the Italians. How come?
The word is out that mayor Patijn realized he made a mistake
with handling the train the way he did. If he had not created
the impasse with the train in the first place, a lot of riots
would have been prevented. An official statement on this
subject would be appreciated.
-------------------------
collettivo infodiret(t)e ECN -
Padova
e-mail: hobo@ecn.org http://www.ecn.org/pad/
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Last Modified: Saturday, August 23, 1997 at 01:36 PM