At present the Mapuche, an indigenous tribe in Patagonia, Argentina, fight for their land. It was stolen from them, and now they try to get it back by means of squatting it. For example Domenico Panciotto, an Italian capitalist, bought a piece of land sacred to them as it includes cemeteries, ceremonial places and paintings on rocks. He surrounded it with barbed wire three metres high, and is going to build up a camping site. Mapuche people shall only be allowed to enter when working for low wages. In December 1996 the cops evicted squatted pasture resulting in twelve arrests and the seizure of several hundred animals. Four Mapuche had to stay arrested for twenty days, juridical proceedings will follow.
London: Some of the editors of the Green Anarchist Paper are charged by the police with calling for arson on the Isle of Wight in 1994. In fact they just reported on an animal liberation action. According to the law it is enough to sympathise with animal liberation to get criminalised.
Vanataa (Finland): On December 3 about 220 animal liberators met for a demonstration against an international auction for furs. When the activists blocked the entrance of the building they were evicted brutally by police. 40 activists got arrested.
In the early morning of February 4 in the little town Apach in south-west Germany a train loaded with radio-active material run off the rails. The Castor transport (named after the official name of a container for radio-active materials) started in Lingen (Emsland) and led to Sellafield (Great Britain). As the benelux countries do not allow such transports to cross their country the Castor has to make detour like this thus bringing larger risk. With that accident it got publicly knowned for the first time a Castor is passing by Apach two or three times a week. However: Stop Castor! Here and now!
In Toulon (France) two singers of the rap band N.T.M. got sentenced to several months on probation because they declared the police being "an organised gang protected by the highest authority."
The resistance against the ITOIZ water dam project in Navarra, a province in the Western Pyrenees started for over ten years now. A few months ago activists cutted six iron cables of highest importance for the construction of the dam leading to damage of some 4.5 or 8 million pound! All eight activists were arrested and beaten by the police, and are in arrest since then. For information contact: Zizana, apdo. 400, 26080 Logorno.
On April 19 in the social centre "La Baracca" in Scandicci near Fiorence a solidarity concert took place for the imprisoned anarchists in Italy. An exhibition was shown too explainig the juridical details. When some of the spectators were on their way home at three in the night they found themselves in front of two Carabinieri's cars blocking the street. The carabinieri came on the pretext of reducing the volume of the music - a obvious pretext, because the concert was finished ten minutes before. During the next few minutes some civil cops and again four cars with carabinieris appeared. Those, armed with special stuff and dogs, enwalled the social centre. The youth then began to move back into the centre. The police started beating up them. Some of them were chained to pylons to go on beating them. The nose of one of the youth was broken by a head punch. Several shoots were done.
When those that managed to re-enter the centre realized that some of their comrades had been fallen into the carabinieris' clutches they left the centre again and started attacking the carabinieries by throwing stones and bottles. On this occasion several were arrested. So the youth moved back again, and stayed encircled by the carabinieris until 7 o'clock when a local deputy entered the scene and finished this situation. The results of that evening: eight arrests, several injured. The arrested were set free two days later but have to report to a carabinieri station once a week.
In the following days there's been some protest against that obviously from the beginning: that every solidarity event for the anarchists affected by the ORAI construct shall be prevented. This led to some turmoil in Fiorence.
By the way: the marshal of the Carabinieri commanding this operation was summoned for abuse of power. The commune of Scandicci decided to further give the room to the youth - with one difference: each event has to be discussed with a committee of guarantors. We'd like to know how the "Baracca" youths will decide: to shut up or to run their life by themselves.
There was a police action remembering the "good ol' times" of Hamburg Hafenstraße in the beginning of June in Frankfurt (Germany). But now it was not masked and "violent" autonomous to be prevented from their "subversive actions" but about 1,000 youth of the techno scene that in fact were bold enough to hold an illegal "love parade" under the slogan "Frankfurt is not sleeping - against the ongoing privatisation of public areas and against the expulsion of minorities". The police action resulting in 28 arrests and several injured showed clearly what is called "trouble" and what is not, according to the state's needs. One thousand people not limiting themselves to empty their heads in "culture halls" made available by the state but getting to the point of looking around in society meet the state's true face. Interesting to see what will happen in future: do those youth rebel again in future, without asking for permission?
Finally the anarchist war service objector Marzio Mucitelli was released from arrest. In all he had to stay in prison for 10 months: 2 months for a squat and 8 for desertion. Finally he decided not to wear the military uniform in prison.
On July, 22nd there's a trial in Paris deciding on whether Massimo Passamani is to be handed over to Italy.
On Juni 12th several living projects in squats and legalised squats in Berlin were raided on by six prosecutors and 500 cops, searching for alleged editors and contributors of the Interim weekly editing staff. Entire streets cordoned off by the police. The date of the raid seems was not fixed by chance: June 12th is the day of publication nearest to June 13th, the second anniversary of the police action against alleged editors of the radikal journal.
The Interim is a Berlin weekly published for 9 years describing discussions and political mobilisation of the autonomous left. It is distributed in a circulation of 1,500 copies in whole Germany. The affected persons declare: "Schönbohm's declaration of war reached its recipient, and we will react on it. Those sowing repression will earn revolt." (Schönbohm is the senator of the interior in Berlin and therefor responsible for that raid.)
There's been several attacks in Vall Susa against the construction of a location line for a high speed train on the route Turin - Lyon. The unknown enemies especially liked to destroy the Telekom wires (probably of glass fibre) and thereby producing maximal damage by simple means. The high speed project is seen as connection between Italy and eastern central Europe and is sponsored by Fiat, Ferrovie, Finifarina, and other Italian and European companies.
According to the investigating authorities those actions of sabotage were done by individuals well-knowing the area and using simple means - like petrol - intending not to injure any human. Direct info via "La sorciére".
Now some good news: the anarchist Miguel Iglesisa arrested in Barcelona in July '96 was released. He was charged with seven attacks three of them he confessed to while he repudiate the four others. Nothing special if not the Spanish media made this case an alleged connection between "squatter scene" and "terrorism". Miguel is considered to be an individualist and as such a particular thorn in the side of the Spanish state's servants: no organisation, no need for hanger-ons, and active like this? How boldly! In the first instance the prosecutor demanded to sentence him to 17 years; however the second instance sentenced him to one year, and he could leave prison on that very day.
On the occasion of the EC summit in Amsterdam on June 14th to 17th there's been several actions and confrontations with state authorities. So several hundred Italians were hold up on the central station as they refused passport checking and buying train tickets. To prevent the Italian demonstrators of being taken away the station was blocked. But that didn't succeed: finally they were deported to Italy in two guarded trains. On June 15th 350 autonomous on a demonstration were encircled by the cops and arrested in several police prisons all over Netherlands. Till June 17th 700 people got arrested which lead to prison revolts because over and over again foreign demonstrators were to be deported.
With the case of the Greek anarchists Dapergolas and Kalaremas (BreakOut March '97) things went bad. It was certain that Dapergolas would be convicted, so there was an effort to hold back the trial, but it didn't work. Kalaremas on the other hand had some god chances, due to contradicting testimony by the witnesses, but he was finally convicted, too. Dapergolas got 7 years and 8 months, Kalaremas got 11 years and Chrysostomou (who had been arrested along with Dapergolas) got 24 years and 10 months (!). Their addresses are: Spyros Dapergolas, 3 Pteryga, Dikastikes Fylakes, Korydallou, Athens and Kostas Kalaremas, 3 Pteryga, Dikastikes Fylakes Ag. Stefanou, Patra.