Geneve, blockage of the bridge at 21.30
interview | 02.06.2003 22:43
two interviews recorded this afternoon at 21.30 aproximately reporting the situation on the streets along the bridge Mont Blanc in the center of Geneve where various activists were trapped while blocking the bridge.
21.45 >> OK here on the Champ Poulais now we've got aproximatly 100 / 120 / mostly local demonstrators, facing down about what looks to be a line of not more than thirty police. The police is still trying to block off the street running along the river, but what we think about two hundreds, maybe no more than two hundred protestors, are blocked in by aproximately on one side 25 to 30 german police, and on the other local swiss police, but which protestors perhaps can't see, is that on the corner from this 25/30 police, there are aproximately 200/300 police, with a lot of vehicles, a lot of water cans, a lot of armed cars, waiting on the corner ready to step in if anything should get out of control. I guess on the other side, towards the rue de mont blanc, there is a build up of swiss police and you got a general attempt to close the bridge in case the protestors move in that direction.
Again there is this strange sense of the scene being pretty open, people are able to leave in all directions, as some people are... but the presence of quite a large amount of police obviously joins curiosity. And in people standing here... the general feeling is of relaxed curiosity. Actually, two hundreds or so protestors are locked into the middle of the scene, is difficult to tell who they're composed of, or what their aims are.
22.00 >> people from... I think people from Annemasse, I don't know if they were only from Annemasse, they came from the demonstration of the WTO but they couldn't make it because they were late, so they went over - I don't know, they were confused, they didn't know what to do - they went over the bridge, stopped there, and decided to block it. And then slowly started coming the police. I came out before, before the police came, from the other side of the bridge people pass but they asked their passports. But I saw it with my eyes at least two arrests, some people that passed, came secret policeman, the ones that were yesterday in the mediacenter - some of them I recognized, the bastards - on the south side of the bridge, over there. They have locked everything. They must have pointed to somebody. They knew who to get, I don't know why. There were many police around: when this happenned, they charged all through the people. This was more than one hour ago.
Again there is this strange sense of the scene being pretty open, people are able to leave in all directions, as some people are... but the presence of quite a large amount of police obviously joins curiosity. And in people standing here... the general feeling is of relaxed curiosity. Actually, two hundreds or so protestors are locked into the middle of the scene, is difficult to tell who they're composed of, or what their aims are.
22.00 >> people from... I think people from Annemasse, I don't know if they were only from Annemasse, they came from the demonstration of the WTO but they couldn't make it because they were late, so they went over - I don't know, they were confused, they didn't know what to do - they went over the bridge, stopped there, and decided to block it. And then slowly started coming the police. I came out before, before the police came, from the other side of the bridge people pass but they asked their passports. But I saw it with my eyes at least two arrests, some people that passed, came secret policeman, the ones that were yesterday in the mediacenter - some of them I recognized, the bastards - on the south side of the bridge, over there. They have locked everything. They must have pointed to somebody. They knew who to get, I don't know why. There were many police around: when this happenned, they charged all through the people. This was more than one hour ago.
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