This morning, Friday 13th June, at 11am, a group of 12 international activists occupied the Swiss Consulate to Catalunya, (Barcalona), to express outrage at the repression which took place during the G8 summit, and particularly about the case of English activist Martin Shaw(1). The activists are refusing to leave until the Swiss Government commits to answer their demands. Simultaneously, 2 activists absailed from the twelve storey building, unfurling a banner with a message of outrage and solidarity.

In the past, and again during the recent G8 summit, there have been significant cases of violent political repression at the hands of the Swiss Police, and world wide. This continues now in Switzerland, with protesters still in jail, incommunicado since the G8 summit, and the widespread prohibition of all forms of popular dissent against the behaviour of the Swiss Authorities. (2)

This mornings occupation in Barcelona is a call for a continued international effort to put pressure on the Swiss Government to demonstrate itself and its employees to be accountable. It follows an international chain of actions against the Swiss and French consulates, in Luxemburg, Berlin, Bern, Geneva, Lossane, London, Manchester, Barcalona, and Oslo, that have been mounted in the wake of the brutal repression surrounding the G8 summit

The demands of the activists from inside the Swiss Consulate are:

1. The immediate release of all prisoners who remain detained and imcommuincate since the G8 summit.

2. The complete withdrawal of criminal charges against all activists present during the bridge action.

3. A transparant, independent public inquiry into the training and orders and the general policing/security policy that surrounded this G8 sunnit. This public inquiry should also contain a specific invesitigation of the police team responsible for cutting the rope that caused the fall and subsequent injuries to Martin Shaw and his fellow activists.

4. The Swiss government to sign a written statement committing to take full responsibility for the acts of its police. This commitment to culpability should include the pledge to fully compensate all injured parties present during the bridge action, and other individuals who have incurred medical or judicial costs as a result of violent repression by the apparantly immune Swiss police forces.

more info and immediate action updates  http://barcelona.indymedia.org


We regret claims from the Swiss police that the cutting of the rope was an accident, or the result of the negligence of one officer.
At the very least it should be seen as the direct result of the deliberate instalation and manipulation of a climate of fear within society, aimed to marginalise and criminalise the diverse dissident voices that gather to oppose the unaccountable and undemocratic Group of 8 and their executive partners.
We denounce this growing scale of violent or cultural repression, combined with the persistent global criminalisation of the anti neo-liberal social movements.


Notes to editors

1. Martin Shaw was one of two climbers who had their rope cut during a non violent blockade of the Aubonne bridge, designed to delay the delegates of the G8 reaching the summit. When the police cut the rope by which he hung, he fell over twenty metres, and now lies in hospital severley injured.
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2 People who were arrested 2 weeks ago are still people in prison in Lausanne, and are being kept on charges that do not justify their prolonged incarceration. The police have denied the antirepression group access to the lists of people who were arrested/charged and released so we have NO IDEA how many people could still be incarcerated. Also, we have many testimonies of police brutality both during the arrests (in Lausanne there were.over 400 were arrested in one day) and during incarceration.
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