Report from Laugh Parade on June 18th in Cologne
Hello everybody,
the meeting point for the parade was at 5 p.m. today. Unfortunately, people were stopped by the police in a tram at a station three stops away from the meeting point at the tram station next to the camp where people are staying overnight, especially participants from the InterContinental Caravan.
There were 250 people caught inside the trams and at the station and held there for over two hours. We do not know what happened to them afterwards, we were told that their identity would be checked and those without identification would be taken to police headquarters. The people were given a ban for the whole area around the city centre of Cologne. No demonstrations were allowed.
The people inside the tram did not lose their humour and had spontaneous laughing fits.
The people who met at the actual starting point were surrounded by an immense quantity of policemen and could not move anywhere. before being completely encircled, they decided to leave the meeting point in smaller groups and dispersed.
report from Cologne, part 2
Hello everybody,
so, the people have been let out of the tram, 40 people have been arrested, at least 11 of the arrested were taken to the police in the South of Cologne, to Bruehl, a "Gefangenensammelstelle".
260 people from the tram have been given bans for entering the city centre (Platzverweise). All Indian participants of the InterContinental Caravan were let free (there are also particpants from Nepal, Bangladesh, Mexico, and other countries, we presume they are free too).
Tomorrow, June 19th, there will be a big demonstration in Cologne, after a human chain by Jubilee 2000.
J18 Cologne Leaflet | Pictures | J18 Global Action Day | www.agp.org