Madrid: Mayday antifascist demo reportback – Comrades detained

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKGP2G6dQ3k

Brief chronicle of the counter-demonstration in the neighbourhood of Chueca on May 1st

At 6pm on May 1st, various fascist organizations, every one cheesier than the last, called a demonstration that began in Tribunal, a central area in Madrid, very close to Chueca.

On the same day, at 5pm, an antifascist gathering was called in the Plaza de Chueca. The call was put out just a few days in advance, and it was unknown what response it would bring.

Well before 5pm, there was already a large police deployment in Chueca, and the antifascist gathering was surrounded from the beginning. The strategy seemed clear: To wear out the counter-protesters and keep them there until the fascist demonstration would be over. But the shouts, good humor, resistance, and dignity didn’t wear out, and the comrades stayed united and combative while surrounded by police for two hours. Around the edges various groups went around and around without being able to join the gathering, but waiting the whole time for the group of their comrades and the fascists.

There were two encounters that we know of with unsuspecting Nazis. In the first, two of them who were arriving late to their demonstration along Fuencarral street (a main pedestrian street, very commercialized and filled with people and cops) ran a flat 200 meters trying to escape a group of antifascists, but had such bad luck that further down they ran into another group. One of the Nazis was hit in the face with a helmet that a compa graciously offered him. They were rescued by a police patrol, but it was priceless to see a Nazi with an ACAB patch on his jacket begging for protection from the pigs. The other was the Nazi who appears in the pictures (or disappears, because he blends in with the boys in blue he likes so much). He was given a good scare, but of course he was saved by the arrival of a van from the anti-riot squad. As you can see from the pictures, they got along well. He opened the door to let the cops out, and got right in…

When all those who were in the gathering in Chueca got out after being frisked, having their IDs checked and (for many) being photographed, some of them met up with other groups that were outside the cordon and headed to Tribunal, where there was a scuffle with the police and two comrades were held. Since it looked like they were going to be detained, the rest barricaded the street and pulled stones from a dumpster to throw at the cops.

The cops charged hard, shooting rubber bullets and chasing the demonstrators, detaining one person; we don’t know if this person was with the group or not. The two comrades who were held earlier have been released, but other detentions were added to the tally in the Plaza de Jacinto Benavente, far from the gatherings and long afterward.

Solidarity with the detained.
Against the system, democratic or fascist. For anarchy.

Update: A total of four detainees from the antifascist Mayday in Madrid remained two nights in the cells, and were all released on Friday, May 3rd after standing before prosecutor (restrictive conditions were imposed against at least one of the comrades, who is awaiting trial).