DISCLAIMER:
This is a personal account that makes no claims to be objective, the conclusions
I have drawn are not necessarily correct.
I arrived
in the Plaza de España at approximately 14:00HRS, after following some
indignados activists whom I met in the Lavapies district. In the plaza de
España were hundreds of people sitting around in circles, eating, drinking,
smoking and discussing the day ahead. I understand that the Plaza de Espana was
one of multiple convergence points from which the demo started. Almost everybody
I spoke to said they believed that they would be attacked by the police. I
shared lunch with two teenage boys who had travelled into Madrid from Castilla
y Leon to participate in the demonstration. They told me that they had lied to their
parents about where they were going, and one of them shyly admitted that his
father was a Guardia Civil police officer. When I asked them if they considered
themselves anti-capitalists they replied without hesitation. “Yes man, until death.”
There
were a plethora of different groups present. Primarily los Indignados, the
Spanish occupy movement. There were also regional autonomists, especially of
Andalusia and Castilla, as well as anarchists, republicans, Communists, various
anti-capitalist left parties and Constitutionalists who were handing out
petitions for Spanish citizens to hand in at the Parliament. Most of the
constitutionalists seemed to be old; in general the young have no faith in the
constitution or representative democracy. There were many Icelandic flags
present – not because there were any Icelandic people, but because the
demonstrators hoped to repeat the feat of the Icelandic people, who besieged their
parliament – the Althing – from October 2008 until January 2009 to bring down their
neo-liberal government and rewrite their constitution. At 16:00 HRS the
assemblea, or general assembly, began, firstly discussing the practicalities of
demonstration before finding consensus on them, then becoming a forum for
passionate speakers to rally the crowd. The consensus part of the assemblea only
attracted the die-hard indignados, most people around the edges continued to
drink, eat and prepare for the day ahead. I spent this time checking my kit and
lamenting not bringing some armour, or at least a helmet. The police had killed
a boy in Bilbao some months ago with a rubber bullet; I didn’t want to be the
next martyr!
People were also distributing maps and information sheets. These
documents showed a high level of organisation, laying out the day’s timetable,
intentions and means of communication. The communication section was especially
good, recommending good apps for communicating as well as which twitter hash tags
to follow. There was also useful advice on not panicking, mastering collective
fear, walking not running during police charges etc. The only part that was
lacking in my opinion was the section on kettling – “en caso de kettling” the
organisers had recommended either sitting down, holding up empty hands or
linking arms then taking a powerful photo. This emphasis on passive resistance
relied on the belief that if there were many people who remained calm, then it
would be impossible for the police to move us on.
The crowd
swelled and the chants rose. By approximately 16:30 HRS the march had begun. The
police blocked off two thirds of Calle Gran Via for the march, leaving a small
area open for one way traffic. The march was enormous. The Gran Via is a slight
slope, and as we rope and I looked back, the grand procession stretched beyond
my visual horizon. Numerical estimates have been bandied about so much as to lose
all value, but from a trusted source I would say that 50,000 is a conservative
estimate. I have not seen such a big crowd since the 26th of March 2011. This
was a national demonstration; people had come from across the country to
express their rage. A transit van mounting a hefty sound system thumped out
Keny Arkana, and the chants of the people bounced off the high buildings around
us, becoming one single roar. The demographic of the protestors is very mixed.
The majority were young, but there were people of all ages including old
people, who regularly remonstrated with the police, begging them not to act
like the fascist police of old.
The
Spanish chants are very strong. Maybe this just appears so to me as a linguist
and Spanish student, but I believe that you can feel the memory recent poverty
and dictatorship in the voices. I will translate some chants here, although I
feel that a lot is lost in translation.
“Esta crisis no la pagamos” - “We will
not pay for this crisis”
“Eso Eso Eso, nos vamos a congreso” - “This
This This, we go to Congress”
“Ole Ole Ole, les llaman democracia y no
lo es” - “Ole Ole Ole, they call it democracy but it’s not”
“Ole Ole Ole,
se llama dictadura y eso es” – “Ole Ole Ole, this is a dictatorship for sure”
“Menos policía y
mas educación” – “Less pólice and more education”
“Vive la clase obrera” – “Long live the
working class”
“Del norte al sur, del este al oeste, la
lucha sigue, cueste lo que cueste” – “From north to south, from east to west,
the struggle continues, cost what it may”
“Por este gobierno, nos vamos de culo” – “For
this government, we march showing them our arses” (chanted whilst walking
backwards)
“No nos mires, unite” – “Don’t watch us,
join us”
“Una solucion, revolucion” - “ One
solution revolution”
“Cuando tu nos mires, la gente estan
robado” – “Whilst you watch us, the people are being robbed.”
“El pueblo,
unido, jamas sera vencido” – “The people, united will never be defeated”
“Que no que no
que no nos representan” “They don’t, they don’t, they do not represent us”
The level
of class consciousness and anger that I witnessed is massive. When we passed
the headquarters of the PSOE – the Spanish labour party that is currently in
opposition, people chanted “Conservative and Labour, it’s the same shit.” And also
“don’t just watch us, jump” to the PSOE apparatchiks watching from the high
windows. Soon the march was leaving the large main street and approaching the
Plaza del Sol. The demonstration spread across several small streets as people
raced each other to be the first in the Plaza del Sol. After taking a minute to
form up in Sol the march again moved off towards congress. Passing banks and
government buildings, people pointed and chanted “Estos son los culpables” “They
are the guilty ones.”
We
arrived at the Plaza de Neptuno, outside congress, at roughly 19:00HRS. To say
that the atmosphere was electric is a gigantic understatement. The noise was a constant
roar. People had to shout in each other’s ears to be heard. The crowd was
making collective movements such as hand clapping, mass cheering and jumping up
and down, truly incredible to see. I climbed up a high window guard for a
better view, and I could see people in every direction, to the limit of my
visual horizon down straight streets. After some time I moved closer into the
middle of the Plaza de Neptuno for a better view. By now the press of people
was very dense, you had to move people around you and have them move you, but
this was done with smiles and friendship. About 30 meters away from the from police
barriers that closed of Congress, I climbed to the top of a bus shelter for a
better view. During this shaky climb I ripped my trousers open from crotch to
knee, but what I saw was well worth it.
A sea of
people chanting in unison. Friends and strangers embracing. People dancing,
people raising their fists, laughing, love and rage and solidarity and resistance
as deeds rather than empty words on a facebook page. By some prearranged signal
around 100 people all began throwing multi-coloured Frisbees across the plaza,
creating a further level of spectacle. I tried to balance on the bus shelter
and film as Frisbees zipped past my face. An elderly man with a grin like a Cheshire
cat called out to me and passed me a republican flag. After about 15 minutes of
enthusiastic flag waving and crowd filming I slowly climbed down to let someone
else take my place.
This
peaceful plaza occupation continued until approximately 21:00 HRS. I had just
bought a drink from a street vendor when the police began their assault. This
marked the end of the peaceful demo and the beginning of the running battle.
END OF
PART 1
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