(1) Freedom of movement, expression, and demonstration ridiculed

The Italian express train blocked
Although they had paid their ticket and had their identity papers, about 2000 Italians were blocked at the border at Ventimille by several thousand police officers. They got to the border on Wednesday at 2 PM, and they were sent back to Rome the following afternoon, after confrontations with the police. Eight protesters were injured. The Schengen Agreement guaranteeing freedom of movement in Europe had been violated, preventing the Italians from going to Nice. Since the Italians were not consumer goods, they did not have the right to cross the border.

There were clashes at the border on Wednesday evening. Nearly 3000 protesters converged and moved toward the railroad station in Nice to denounce this infringement of the right of movement and expression. Result: a torrent of tears (from teargas). Why were they blocked? They are "Tutti Bianche" ("the Invisible Ones "), with Ya Basta! The police are afraid of their methods of nonviolent direct action, in accordance with the beliefs of Vittorio de Ya Basta!

Friday evening: there was a new demonstration of support.
This time there were no confrontations. The police chief of the Alpes-Maritimes agreed to let them cross the border, on condition that they be escorted to Marseilles. As they were starting their cars, the Italian protesters were surprised that their cars had been streaked and their tires slashed, even though they were all within 5 meters of the police officers...

We welcome the tax havens in Monaco, but not people!
At Cape D'Ail at the Monegasque "border," 200 Confederation AC! protesters were stopped by a cordon of police officers.
The protesters called for the abolition of the tax havens, carrying "Capital Sharks" cardborad sign.

Suppresion of the free trains
Although 6.8 million francs (5.7 million by the town of Nice and 1.1 million by the Intergovernmental Council) were spent getting people to Nice, the state refused the unemployed passage to Nice on the free trains. Where the trains left from--Paris, Dijon, Lyon, Bordeaux--police officers waited for the protesters. Scuffles and several casualties resulted from this confrontation. However, leaving Nice, people had no problem getting on the free trains.
The No Pasaran network had arranged for the free trains.

Conclusions:
(A) the rich have the right to express themselves
(B) the poor have only the right to be turned away

(2) Witnesses and journalists were prevented from shooting videos

A Zalea TV journalist was arrested Thursday when he was shooting a protest against the Intergovernmental Conference. He was brutally knocked to the ground and handcuffed throughout the afternoon. He was released only when the assistant national prosecutor intervened under the pressure from Zalea TV and Reporters Without Borders. Three Kri-prod (a Strasbourg collective) reporters were arrested as they were shooting video of the demonstrations at the entrance to the Leyrit room.
One cameraman dodged a blow from a police officer, while another officer tried to take its camera from him. Twice, the police tried to prevent an Indymedia journalist from filming a scene where identity cards were being checked, and also when the police were getting ready to evacuate the Leyrit room. A Patriot journalist shooting an altercation got violently kicked in the groin by a police officer.
British journalists filming the beating of one protester were violently shoved.

(3) arbitrary arrests and convictions

Warning for future protesters: Cheese is considered a weapon!
Two Spaniards have were arrested and sentenced on Friday to one month in jail and two years of personae non grata in the Nice area. Arrested with seventeen other protesters, they were convicted because they had in their bag a helmet, a headdress, and an all-purpose pocket knife.
No one, not even the police officers who arrested them, could formally identify them and prove that they participated in any of the protests

(4) Unkept Promises: civil force observers were not welcome

Although Pierre Moscovici, Secretary of State of the European corporations, had promised that civil force observers could attend the debates of the Intergovernmental Conference, they were refused access to Droits In Front! and to the World Observatory (a watch group).

(5) The conditions in Nice that aided or caused the confrontations

There was no space made ready for the protesters (only a small space was provided at the last minute) - no space prepared by the State or the town hall to accommodate thousands of protesters, violating basic civil rights.
For two nights, Nice became the one town in France most inhabited by law enforcement authorities (SDF).

Preventive Measures: On Thursday D7 at the beginning of the afternoon,
a few hundred people peacefully gathered in front of a police station to protest against the arrest of two Spaniards. A cordon of CRS (police) awaited them.
Although a delegation of three people were speaking with one representative of the police force, teargas grenades were hurled at the protesters from the inside of the police station. No violence cause this action at that time. The action surprised everyone - including some CRS officers inside the police station.
Not prepared, these officers got hit with the same teargas as the protesters

Redress must begin with attacking these "preventive measures":
Let us point out Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of the Human Rights:
"Any person has the right to leave any country including his, and to return to his country"As well as Article 19:
"Any individual is entitled to the freedom of thought and expression,
which implies the right not to be arrested for his opinions and that to seek, to receive and to disseminate--without consideration of border-- information and ideas by available means of expression. This is necessary in order to show people concrete things that exist in the world."

So therefore Thursday afternoon a group of ten people chose a few targets to hurl inoffensive balls at: seven bank buildings; two floors of Prisunic (a department store), and a buffalo-grill restaurant. The police had to evacuate those places.