(en/es)-Report back from the 15/2/2012 Occupy Sydney: Solidarity with Greece Demo

that resulted in the complete evacuation of the Greek Consulate, the arrest of 6 comrades and an 11 hour Noise Demo at City Central Police Station

On Wednesday the 15th of February, following a 3 day General strike and massive rioting in the street of Athens and other cities throughout Greece, participants of the Occupy Sydney movement staged a demonstration in solidarity with the Greek revolt.


At approximately 12.30pm, while the city streets were full of tourists, shoppers and many office workers on lunch, a black bloc carrying an “Occupy Sydney” banner marched from the Martin Place Occupy camp down Castlereagh Street to the Greek Consulate chanting “A FATE WORSE THEN DEATH FUCK THE IMF". The comrades made speeches declaring solidarity with the popular revolt across Greece then left two objects in the doorway of the consulate and quickly dispersed. One object was a large fake Molotov made out of an empty petrol tin with red cellophane coming out the top, the other was an empty, black foam box labelled “PANDORA’S BOX: DO NOT OPEN” with the titles of various financial institutions: “IMF, European Central Bank” etc, labelled along the sides.
By 1pm the area around the consulate was swarming with cops and the entire consulate including the entire staff of the Beirut Hellenic Bank, located within the same building were evacuated by police.

10 minutes later a large police contingent made of uniformed and plain clothed police raided the Occupy Sydney camp and corralled, assaulted and arrested 6 comrades outside a Westpack Bank and confiscated a number of cameras.

According to the police report:
"As a result of the actions of the group, NSW Police deployed personnel to conduct the following investigations:
1 Search and evacuation of 219-223 Castlereagh Street, Sydney
2. Crime Scene Guard for the items placed in the foyer at 219-223 Castlereagh Street, Sydney
3. Restriction of pedestrian and vehicular access on Castlereagh Street between Liverpool Street and Bathurst Street, Sydney
4. Specialist Police deployed from the Protections Operations Unit, Anti Terrorism and Security Group, State Crime Command
5. A detachment from the Australian Federal Police
6. A number of Police utilised in order to stop, arrest and caution the six persons
7. A team of 8 Detectives to investigate the matters comprising of statements, CCTV review and monitoring interviews"

Within minutes of the arrests, anarchists called for a Solidarity Noise Demo, and a crowd soon gathered outside the City Central Police Station where the 6 comrades were being held hostage. Banners were immediately tied to trees and poles directly opposite the front door of the Police Station, and visible to all traffic from the busy Day Street.
The Banners read:
“Occupy Sydney”
“ATHENS IS BURNING SYDNEY IS WAITING”
“A.C.A.B”
“SOLIDARITY MEANS ATTACK”
A large banner reading “NO JUSTICE NO PEACE FUCK THE POLICE” was also held up along Day St for all passing traffic to see.
Large Drums were also improvised and a beautiful racket filled the area all around the station. Many people stopped to watch and take photos, some congratulated us, and others danced to the drums. Many cars also honked their horns, some shouting “good on ya” and giving a thumbs up or waving fists from their windows as they passed by
Many police watched from inside the police station and some came out to read the banners and scowl at us before retreating back to their hole.

Throughout the long demo, police made repeated attempts to disperse the crowd and stop the drumming, officers occasionally came out of the police station shoving and abusing comrades, but the crowd remained, continued drumming and defended the banners over a period of 9 hours. One enraged policeman even told the crowd that the drumming was intimidating police, and witnesses inside the station had been too overwhelmed by the noise to give statements, as if that would encourage us to stop.

At about 11pm police suddenly and very quickly mobilised a line of officers in front of the crowd and made an announcement that the demonstration was illegal and everyone must disperse immediately or face arrest, at this time a line of police had moved around the block and formed a line behind the demonstrators. The front line of police immediately moved on two comrades carrying the “NO JUSTICE NO PEACE FUCK THE POLICE” banner. Both comrades ran with the banner, evading the police cordon by running through the traffic on Day St. The comrades then reopened the banner on the other side of the road but where forced to continue to flee as a number of police then pursed them across the street. The comrades abandoned the banner and ran into an underground car park where one comrade was cornered and arrested, while the other temporarily evaded the pigs, before being arrested 15 minutes later while attempting to flee through a fire escape.
One other comrade also broke through the cordon and evaded a number of police in pursuit by passing through a building and locking them inside.
Only one comrade was arrested inside the kettle after they refused orders to leave the area and cease drumming. The rest of the comrades were eventually released from the kettle with warnings they are banned from the area for 24 hour or face immediate arrest.
The “A.C.A.B” banner was the only one saved during the raid, the rest were cut down by police and taken as “evidence”. Once released from the kettle, comrades promptly hung the banner from a pedestrian footbridge, directly visible from the front entrance to City Central Police station.

Inside the cells, all comrades maintained an antagonistic and honourable attitude, banging on the cell doors and repeatedly chanting anti-police slogans alongside some teenagers accused of shoplifting. One comrade was also repeatedly slammed into a wall while handcuffed, receiving minor but bleeding wounds on both their forehead and shoulder.

Drumming and celebrations continued across the road until all 9 comrades had been released to loud cheers, hugs, anti-police chants and beers, the last comrade was released at 1.30 am, after being held for 12 hours.

In all only 2 comrades were charged with “false representation resulting in a police investigation”. Others were threatened with various charges, one comrade with as many as 6 that supposedly “may be laid pending further investigations”.
The two comrades who were charged received extremely restrictive bail conditions, including reporting to the police 3 times a week, a ban on all contact with each other until the trial, ban from entering the centre of the CBD.

At around 2am all comrades walked away in a celebratory mood, still drumming and chanting anti police slogans, with the “A.C.A.B” banner left hanging on the footbridge.

Unfortunately all cameras and memory cards holding photographs and video of the black bloc march and demonstration outside the consulate were confiscated by police and are being held as evidence.

In the 24 hours since the comrades were released, police have raided the Occupy Sydney site on 3 separate occasions, confiscating all furniture, sleeping bags, food, tables and propaganda, leaving nothing behind. Occupiers are currently rebuilding the site.

SOLIDARITY WITH THE GREEK REBELS AND ALL WHO STRUGGLE
FIRE TO ALL PRISONS!
A.C.A.B.

http://www.indymedia.org.au/2012/02/18/report-back-from-the-1522012-occupy-sydney-solidarity-with-greece-demo-that-resulted-in-t


Cerca las 12.30 horas del jueves, 15 de febrero, y mientras que las calles de la ciudad de Sídney estaban llenas de turistas, consumidores y muchos empleados de oficinas, se realizó una manifestación de solidaridad con la revuelta en Grecia. La marcha comenzó desde la acampada de Martin Place, en la calle Castlereagh, y se dirigió hacia el consulado griego, Lxs compas gritaban consignas como “Un destino peor que la muerte, que se joda el FMI”. Lxs solidaritarixs dejaron frente la puerta del consulado griego dos objetos y se dispersaron rápidamente. Uno de los objetos era un gran Molotov falso, hecho por un contenedor vacío de petroleo y celofán rojo, y el otro objeto era una caja negra que llevaba un mensaje que decía “La caja de Pandora: No la abren” junto con varios acrónimos de instituciones financieras escritos a sus lados.

Hasta las 13.00, el área alrededor del consulado estaba llena de maderos que evacuaron el consulado y la sede del Beirut Hellenic Bank, que se sitúa en el mismo edificio.

10 minutos después, masivas fuerzas policiales de maderos de uniforme y secretas allanaron la acampada de Occupy Sídney, atacaron a la gente, arrestaron a 6 compas frente a una sucursal de Westpack Bank y confiscaron varias cámaras.

Muy rápido, lxs anarquistas convocaron una manifestación solidaria de ruido, y la gente comenzó a reunirse en las afueras de la estación central de la policía, donde se retenían secuestradxs a lxs seis compas. Los manifestantes colgaron pancartas en los arboles que quedan frente a la entrada de la comisaría de los cerdos, visibles a lxs pasajerxs y los coches que pasaban de la calle Day.

En las pancartas se podría leer: “Okupa Sídney”, “Atenas arde, Sídney va a seguir”, “Todos los maderos son bastardos (A.C.A.B)”, “Solidaridad significa ataque”. En el lugar se desplegó también una gran pancarta en la que se leía “No paz, no justicia, que se joda la policía”. Lxs manifestantes permanecieron en el lugar por varias horas, haciendo mucho ruido y tocando música, informando al mismo tiempo los pasajerxs de lo que había ocurrido, mientras que la policía intentó en varias ocasiones a dispersar a la multitud, incluso con uso de violencia física contra la gente. Alrededor de las 23.00, agentes policiales se alinearon frente a lxs manifestantes, informándoles de que la concentración era ilegal y que debían dispersarse inmediatamente. Los maderos rodearon a lxs manifestantes y consiguieron detener a tres personas más y confiscaron todas las pancartas como “pruebas”, menos la de “ACAB”.

Lxs detenidxs mantuvieron una postura digna y combativa, golpeando las puertas de los calabozos y gritando consignas antipoliciales, junto con otrxs jóvenes arrestadxs por robos de tiendas. Uno de lxs detenidxs fue agredido por los maderos y sufrió algunas lesiones en su rostro y su hombro.

A pesar de la operación represiva, lxs manifestantes solidarixs permanecieron en la calle haciendo ruido, hasta que todxs lxs nueve detenidxs fueron puestos en libertad, con el último de ellxs en salir de la comisaría a las 01.30 de la madrugada.

Dos de lxs detenidxs están obligadxs a presentarse 3 veces por semana en la comisaría, mientras que les han prohibido la comunicación entre sí hasta que se realice su juicio, además de la prohibición de circular por las calles del centro de la ciudad de Sídney. Varios de los otrxs detenidxs enfrentan cargos por delitos menores, pero su formalización está todavía pendiente. Todas las cámaras y las tarjetas de memoria de los manifestantes fueron confiscadas, mientras que la acampada de Occupy Sídney, fue atacada en 3 ocasiones diferentes durante las 24 horas después de la liberación de lxs nueve compañerxs. Los maderos se llevaron todo el equipamiento de la acampada (los muebles, los sacos de dormir, la comida, etc.) y actualmente la gente está intentando reconstruirla.

¡Ni griegxs, ni australianxs, somos todxs revoltosxs!
¡Quiten las manos de nuestrxs hermanxs!
¡Fuego a las comisarías y los tribunales!

http://es.contrainfo.espiv.net/2012/02/18/sidney-australia-los-maderos-atacan-y-detienen-manifestantes-solidarixs-con-la-revuelta-en-grecia/