2006 G8 Summit in St.Petersburg - Reports & Photos
Anti-G8 Protest Successful in Russia
author: LINK/Berlin anti-G8 Press Group | 12.07.2006 19:47 | sandiego.indymedia.org
Despite the fact that as many as 200 potential anti-G8 protesters have been already arrested just before the arrival of President Bush in Russia, activists yesterday successfully organised a large carnival protest in Moscow without a single person being detained. However, illegal harrassment and detention of people remains a large civil rights problem.
Carniaval against Capitalism Anti-G8 Protest Successful in Russia
Despite Massive Police Arrests Ahead of Bush visit and G8 SummitDespite the fact that as many as 200 potential anti-G8 protesters have been already arrested just before the arrival of President Bush in Russia, activists yesterday successfully organised a large carnival protest in Moscow without a single person being detained. However, illegal harrassment and detention of people remains a large civil rights problem.
For immediate release: July 12, 2006.
Protest Contact (Moscow): fnb-russiayandex.ru
Anti-G8 media group LINK: spb8media
011 7-916-992 25 50 (Russian + English)Berlin based anti-G8 media group:
Email: g8-info
Website: http://presse.gipfelsoli.orgWith colorful pink costumes and free food for everyone, anarchists showed their resistance to the G8 in proper fashion, by holding an anti-capitalist carnival in the heart of Moscow. In typical celebratory carnival atmosphere over a hundred SPB8 anti-G8 activists held a bright and picturesque, quick and manoeuvrable action from Yesenin monument in Tverskoi boulevard to Smolenskaya square. Not a single person was been detained.
Main participants of the carnival came from three groups - Anarcho-Rebel Clown Army (AKAB), the drum group Rhythms of Resistance and a Radical Cheerleaders team, as well as people from the group Food Not Bombs. Participants were from Moscow, Irkutsk, Volzhskiy, Ufa, Nizhny Novgorod, Kiev, as well as Russian and foreign individuals representing various non-authoritarian initiatives. Groups and movements have made a holiday protesting the G8 summit which is due to start on July 15 near St. Petersburg. The carnival began with a performance at the square outside the Yesenin monument, then participants moved towards Arbat street, dancing and chanting slogans to the drum beat. The Anarcho-Rebel Clowns have ritually worshipped the waxfigure of the president Vladimir Putin in Arbat.
In other news, police have detained or arrested as many as 200 individuals, generally under quite auspicious reasons. People have accused the police of violent attacks both inside and outside of prisons, and the police have also been accused of planting drugs and even explosives on anti-G8 organisers. Kimmie Kliff, a German based anti-G8 organiser stated, "Many have been charged for strange reasons such as spitting or urinating on the sidewalk, cursing at officers, or even "being against the G8." They are now appearing before court on a daily basis. The punishment is nearly always the same, 10 days in jail. This seems to be clearly a politically motivated effort to keep all critique of the G8 off the streets of St. Petersburg until the eight world leaders have safely returned home."
Jack Kayne, an experienced anti-G8 organiser, stated, "Russian citizens desperately need international help. The government, police and the justice system are only oppressing popular dissent. We urge people to put pressure on the Russian embassy wherever they live." The police have today cancelled the one previously permitted demonstration against the G8, making all public dissent now officially illegal.
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Russian Indymedia (English version): http://int.ru.indymedia.org/URGENT!!! RUSSIAN ACTIVISTS CALL FOR INTERNATIONAL PRESSURE ON RUSSIAN EMBASSIES!!!
PLEASE; PHONE THEM NOW OR BETTER YET; ORGANISE A DEMO!! THERE HAVE ALREADY BEEN MULTIPLE SOLIDARITY DEMOS IN SPAIN AND GERMANY; AT LEAST.