Mayday in Linz

I just got this from a friend in Austria and wanted to post it up for ya’ll.

I live in a rather very small city in Austria. The only reason people from outside the country might know of it is because we are currently the cultural capitol of Europe according to the EU. It’s not a particularly good reason, but it’s a reason. In any case ever since 1991 a coalition of communists, anarchists and generally anti-fascists has organized an alternative mayday demonstration in Linz. Up until this year it was just a quiet, peaceful demonstration with no particular incidents. This year however it wasn’t as quiet. This is the article from indymedia.at that I translated into English, I thought you should know this so that news may spread further, maybe, in any case.

May 1st should have been as quiet as all the others that preceded this one. A march from the Blumau to the main square, a few speeches and then goulash and beer for lunch. But this year someone obviously did not want the local anti-fascist bloc to take part in this demonstration and got the police to stop this it (“Someone with a degree decided that,” verbatim from a policeman).

Shortly before the march was to move, a row of policemen prevented the last bloc from leaving. This bloc was then surrounded by the police who justified their actions by saying they were afraid that hooded demonstrators could cause trouble. The rest of the march showed their solidarity by also not beginning to march. This was followed by a few minutes of confusion on the part of the police force, who then began to single out demonstrators to check their identification. This included certain demonstrators being photographed whilst holding name-signs. Most people who were selected, however, did not comply with this voluntarily and the general sentiment in the surrounded crowd got louder and louder. The police reacted by escalating the brewing violence and brutally arrested a young girl. When a few of demonstrators tried to help the girl, the police responded with more violence. One of these demonstrators was the vice-rector of the local art university, who was brutally pinned down on the ground by 6 officers and arrested (one police officer broke his bat and boasted about that fact later on).
From this point onwards the police became ever more brutal, revealing the strategy of escalation more and more clearly. By this time the police-officers started to loosen the circle around the demonstrators by beating individuals out of the circle and arresting people (verbatim: “Of course we need to resort to violence, we can’t just tickle you out!”). The police also made heavy use of their pepper spray, though by doing this they sometimes injured each other (although that will most probably be pinned on the demonstrators).

After the police opened the circle surrounding the march, the demonstrators began to move towards the main square, without any police accompaniment. The demonstration went off without any incidents (seeing as there was no police to incite any violence), which shows that the argument put forth by the police earlier, that they were worried about violent behavior, was completely absurd. On the main square the demonstration encountered a group of fascists, who attacked the march. Suddenly the police was present again and another 2 leftist demonstrators were arrested, while the Nazis were told to move out of the way and from then on left alone.

Shortly afterwards the demonstration dissolved. That evening the arrested demonstrators were released, but they will most probably be charged with resisting arrest or aggressive behavior. In the next few days there will be solidarity actions on behalf of our arrested and charged comrades.

Ever since then I have been confused and angry. This shouldn’t happen in a place like Linz. I’d be really grateful if you could pass the news on somehow, I feel I have to do something, which is why I decided to send you the article.

So there you have it, police in Austria acting pretty much exactly like police in America.  the problem isn’t a few “bad apples” that give ‘good’ cops a bad name, the problem is cops, period.  Power without accountability breeds abuse, whether it’s a small town in austria or a big city like london or new york.

Posted: May 3rd, 2009 under culture war, politrix.
Comments: none