Outlook LCR contingent clouded in tear gas. (Bottom right) Slovenian marchers don't seem to have the numbers. Move down a little further and join a bigger group, led by French banner of the Ligue Communiste Révolutionnaire. Communist Rifondazione from Italy and the British SWP are also in this group. After negotiations the SWP move off to block a different road. We stay with the LCR and move into the man steer There are barricades across the side road down to the conference centre and a line of police in protective gear behind them. We chant and sing but don't make any attempt to approach them. Suddenly I have a strange taste in the back of my throat. It's like fireworks going off, the smell and taste of sulphur but much worse.
I look down the road in the direction that the SWP went - and discover you can't see more than 20 yards. They are being tear-gassed down there, I realise, as | hear explosions again sounding like fire works. People around me are starting to put on masks, tie scarves around their mouths and where they have them put on goggles.
I check I have my inhaler, worried the gas may provoke an asthma attack. My eyes are smarting and someone comes up and asks me if I need something for them. Presumably they look even worse than they feel! He washes them out with saline and I move back into the side street away from the drift of the gas.
Within a few minutes of being able to breathe properly i feel much better and move back into the main group, tying my scarf tightly round my mouth. I am certainly not the only one to have needed time out.
By this time the gas has cleared, and we can see that the SWP has been forced to retreat. Within seconds we hear loud bangs from in front of us - this time we are in the firing line.
Most of the shells fall behind us - a strange tactic if the idea is to make us retreat.
I'm a bit more acclimatised now and manage not to be affected too much. There are two or three more volleys - during the last of which the shells are deliberately fired to land on top of us.
We move - and in different directions. After a few minutes we regroup and begin to move together away from the police lines. They are not satisfied, and fire again.
By this time the SWP have rejoined us, having come round a side street and together we form up again and march away from the police.
As later becomes clear, the plan is to go right round, though the old city and approach the conference centre from the other side. Many people come out onto their balconies or open their windows as we do so - and the majority are supportive. One woman. probably in her 7Os was waving and crying when she heard us chant "No Passaran".
Soon we are joined by a third contingent, mainly comprised of Basques, and together we march, shouting and cheering towards the rear of the conference centre - where we are met by yet more police and yet more tear gas....
At this point various people get their heads together, and it was announced that we would have a couple of quick speeches and then disperse. Actually we marched back to the Convergence Centre .
This section of the march had a rather different feel to it than the rest. We were walking away from confrontation, so it seemed. My thoughts (apart from wanting a cup of tea) were that we had made a good show. Local agent More people from France should have stayed over. It is frustrating that some of those who mobilised for Prague don't understand that the EU is the local agent of the IMF and the World Bank.
But in the end it would have been extremely difficult to mobilise the sort of numbers needed to stop the conference - the relationship of forces just isn't there. To have actually stopped the conference we would probably have needed ten times more people.
I heard a sound behind me, turned and saw that someone had just thrown a brick through a plate glass window. I wondered if this was an agent provocateur -it seemed such a foolish thing to do.
The police don't appear and we return to the Convergence Centre for more speeches. The acoustics are poor and there is no translation at this point, so l don't follow everything.
People are starting to leave to return to their coaches and go home.
Then some of the anarchists grab the mike to say someone has been arrested and we should all go to the police station. But there are dwindling numbers and it seems like the anarchists are spoiling for a fight - for the sake of it.
So most of us decide not to go. A few hundred people set off for the police station.
1 later hear that I was right -this degenerates into lengthy battles with the police -which then of course are what get media coverage overshadowing the sustained tear-gassing we have experienced.
There are now so few people left that we abandon the meeting and go off in search of lunch. Afterwards we make a quick visit to the old harbour then return to the airport and home. I'm exhausted but it has been a very worthwhile two days.
Forward to Genoa! Terry Conway