Police attack in Gothenburg
Defend the right to protest!
Swedish police fired live bullets at anti-capitalist protestors outside the EU summit in Gothenburg. One demonstrator was so badly injured that CNN subsequently reported he had died, though this was later withdrawn. While it was a relief to hear later from a surgeon involved that he may pull through, this does not minimise the crimes of the police.
Eye witness reports make clear that the police had been provoking demonstrators right from the beginning – surrounding the Convergence Centre so that people had to come out through a cordon, arresting large numbers of people, and throwing them out of the city itself
This is part of a pattern of increased repression faced by activists organising against globalisation across the world (see p13)
Politicians including Tony Blair have not condemned police brutality and attempted murder in Gothenburg but turned on those who resist the iniquities of the system.
Now the Italian authorities seem determined to use this as an excuse to tighten the ring of steel around Genoa and prevent us expressing our demands. The labour movement must oppose this in the strongest terms possible.