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Bruxxels - EU Summit - Belgium, December 2001
First day of actions against the EU Summit in Brussels
4 errant drummers fron UK Rhythms of Resistance samba band arrived in Brussels last night to add our musical accompaniment to the planned actions from Dec 14th until 16th. Having found ourselves a nice big squat to crash in (albeit replete with numerous Globalise Resistors), we set out this morning to explore a bit more of Brussels and check out the Trade Union demo organised for today.
There are reportedly about 80,000 participants from all over north and southern Europe (incl a unemployed workers union!) and a load of sound systems playing dodgy euro pop and soft rock. Despite our sadly depleted numbers (due to some of ROR Amsterdam being deported yesterday and having their instruments impounded after an anti-biotech lobbying action yesterday morning), we managed to find a elderly Belgian trumpeter and 2 harmonica players with whom to bash out some toonz.
Leaving due to extreme cold and lack of diversity on demo (tho the odd black blocker spotted from afar), we are planning to link up with new arrivals later from ROR Ghent, Amsterdam (who are returning after their untimely deportation) and Nijmegen. The plan being to play at the big anti-EU summit/anti-war demo tomorrow afternoon and again on Sat at the planned anti-capitalist street party + anarchist demo + another anti-war demo. Guess with the amount of things happening, we're looking forward to some support from the Belgian beer & waffle industry!
Some other news is that the Brussels police have been very heavy handed with demonstrators, deporting people responsible for actions without even charging them first and impounding all possessions (sleeping bags, drums etc). It has been said that people have been deported from here to Sweden, Holland and Algeria.
If anyone is hoping to come play at any of these events or wants to meet up, we will be staying at the squatted university building near to Ettebeek train station, bus nos 95/96 from the old train station in Placez de Luxembourg.
Fri 14h Dec
Facing sub-zero temperatures, with no practice, bands from London, Amsterdam, Nijmegen and Gent joined together to form a 40 strong carnival bloc on todays demo.
After having been woken up very early by those well organised and over-enthusiastic Globalise Resistors who were more keen than us to get out in the freezing breeze and icy streets; we made our way down to the convergence centre at Tourn et Taxis.
There we met other RoR bands to make up the carnival bloc. Leaving around 11am we found the front of the march, but lined up and started playing in a side-street until some of the demo had passed. We followed the lengthy circular route which went from and back to the convergence centre, a compromise route between the Brussels city council and the D14 collective. In truth it was from the middle of nowhere to the back of beyond, through deserted residential streets. Compared to yesterday's Union demo, today had far greater diversity, students, GR members, left parties and general malcontents, with a large but extremely fluffy Black Block (aka New Kids on the Black Block)they seemed reluctant to smash the windows of the few banks they eventually did; . around 30,000 is a reasonable guestimate.
We fared pretty well under the circumstances, tring to work out common rhythms, ways of playing them and languages eventually led to three tunes that we could play reasonably well. Which kept people happy and dancing in the extreme cold,but sunny afternoon.
Moving back to the Convergence Centre peacefully (more or less) we listened to music before attempting to disperse. Unfortunately cops had blocked the roads away from the converge centre and seached everyone who wanted to leave the area. This was around 3.30 pm.
At around 4pm we were told that the cops moved closer to the centre and refused to allow anyone to leave the area. This led to a stand off with people throwing rocks etc with cop water cannon retaliation.
Sat 15th Dec
The frozen foursome awoke to find the thermometer has struggled up to a balmy 3 degrees above freezing. After plenty of faffing around town we met up with some of the Amsterdam and Gent bands at Place Luxemburg; the Nijmegen had gone AWOL, had they been deported again?
Anyway, we proceeded to Gare Midi deciding to get off at a neighbouring station in case of cops checking for the metro tickets we did not have. The penalty could have been a 12 hour bang-up and a deportation! So a disappointingly small number, some 500 assembled with a techno sound system up the front, a van in front of us selling beer soup and sarnies, an Anarquist Euro style wind and brass band on the back of a cattle truck, and all the usual carny props that go to make up the street party vibe.
One by one a good number of Sambistas got it together and got the punters a' movin', little did we know that the Anarcho demo had joined onto the rear along with the peace demo, with cops at a good distance some 3000 of us processed through a poor inner city quarter of Brussels With much merriment the locals were well into it as we moved through ever narrower streets. Then the cops blocked us front and back on a sloping street a la le section 60, we Brits all know and hate.
Down the front at a 5 - way junction, shops and bars did a rorin' trade as everyone we saw kept cool and enjoyed the music of their choice, and then fire-breathers as the night kicked in. It was our job to keep them entertained, and even though there was pissed up New Kids On the Black Block in abundance, they didn't resort to any mindless trashing in these car-lined working-class streets. Proof if any there were no cop infiltrators out today, and that if there were, they had wised up to any of them trying to lead a charge at the cop lines etc.
After about 2 hours the cops removed the cordon and allowed us to process the short distance to a square where the techno carried on plus more fire-breathing, we played a little more then disappeared down the metro playing as we went, with punters waving to us as we left, here we departed from our Dutch and Belgian mates with more Euro co-operation on the samba front likely in future.
These three days had seen a broad cross section of Euro citizens saying no to the neo-liberal project of the Blair, Schroeder, Chirac and Berlusconi, the corporations and the USA. With the Euro imminant, Trade Unionists who have been betrayed over the dream of a social Europe to the No Borders activists against fortress Europe, to the anticapitalist dispossessed of the Black Bloc we were pleased to be amongst them.
See http://belgium.indymedia.org for more...
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