We arrived in Brussels on the Thursday night to the news that the huge squat that had been opened to sleep 600 or so anarchists had been raided and shut down with quite a few people being expelled from the country - a dodgy start to the weekend!
We were generously offered alternative accommodation and given the low down by a local anarchist on what the lie of the land was.
Friday 14th December - The left wing demonstration
This was bigger than the estimates of 20-25,000, and was livened up by a large (and militant) anarchist block. The pigs stood back while 2 banks and 2 police stations were redecorated en route. One cop shop was completely trashed by some of the more hardcore crowd.
The demo, in true left wing fashion, was totally pointless, taking people in the rough direction of the summit before u-turning and returning to a place particularly convenient for a hem in job by the police. This happened and they were searching people on the way our and presumably wanting to get people for the days law breaking activities. There was a bit of a ruck involving a water cannon on their part and not much of note on ours. Some 40 arrests were made and a further 120 were nicked at a solidarity demo later on that night. This was a shame because if people had kept their wits about them they would have been able to disappear down a side road that was not blocked off by the police until a good half hour after they began their containment operation. A ruck on their terms, and all of the accompanying arrests, would have been avoided.
Saturday 15th December - The anarchist demonstration
The anarchist 'manifestation' on Saturday 15th was superb, up to 5,000 present we reckon, but more importantly the majority were proper anarchists (if you know what we mean).
For the weekend the Centre Libertaire was at the hub of things for anarchists. The people connected to it - mainly, but not exclusively, Brussels Alternative Libertaire group - were the organisers of the demonstration on the 15th. They came across as sincere and committed and had clearly thought about what they wanted on the day. They wanted a demo that was not negative (anti- this, that, and the other) but a positive manifestation of anarchist ideas and strength to the people of the city. Rather than take their message to the politicians (a totally non-anarchist thing to do) they wisely planned a route through the city's working class areas.
Some of the organisers had concerns that the more militant black block tactics of the day before would be incompatible with their aims at an open discussion in the Centre that evening but thankfully no real rift formed.
On the day we all met up and, in our opinion, excessive concerns about police repression proved to be just that, as did rumours of an attack by fascists who wisely stayed well away. We then wound our way through the streets of Brussels with anarchist flags flying, singing songs of solidarity and spreading anarchist leaflets.
The march ended and we all looped round pretty much en mass to get to the street party that had just begun. It was here that a complacent copper got his van bricked and chased away. Many CCTV cameras were destroyed on the return also.
For the whole march the police stayed well back. It was almost as if they were respecting our ability to take them on and give them a serious headache. The one time they did slip up and come too close (forming a line at the end of a bridge on the opposite of Canal de Charleroi) they were met with a hail of rocks and a couple of Molotov's for good measure. The message was a clear "Stay away, or else".
We met up with the street party and, after another bank got the treatment, all set off led by a couple of vans blaring out music on a parade around St Gilles - a working class area with a tradition of political radicalism.
The police blocked the route back to Porte de Hal for a bit but eventually backed down and we went on to occupy the area where the party continued until we'd all had enough. A few arrests were made but as with the day before, with a little common and awareness of police movements this could be avoided. As well as this people were giving out messages on the sound system advising us of what the enemy was up to (hilariously the bloke making the announcements in broken English couldn't say the word "police" without the word "fucking" in front of it and "bastards" following it: "the fucking police bastards are arresting people", "the fucking police bastards are trying to intimidate us" etc.).
All in all we were impressed with the organising of our Belgian brothers and sisters. They got away with everything they planned and forced the police to pretty much leave them alone. As well as this a police station was totally wrecked and relatively few arrests were made. Almost all of those who were nicked were released soon and without charge.
It didn't kick off like it did in Nice or Gothenburg but to be honest this really didn't matter, especially as this was to do with the police fearing our latent strength and keeping well clear. These events shouldn't become ritualised. Our actions should depend on what is going on around us, and how we all feel at the time.
The next euro-bash is in Barcelona on the 15th and 16th March - the Social Summit of the European Council. Should be a good 'un.
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