GENEVA (6/1/03) -- During the June 1 demonstration four of the bridges were shut down by protesters, forcing delegates to be delayed. It was a strange and complicated terrain, because protesters were divided among three cities (Lausanne, Geneva, and Annemasse), and two countries. Organizers estimate between 100,000 and 150,000 conservatively, very good since ATTAC France did not mobilize for this protest.

Bridges were occupied peacefully in the early morning. The group I'm travelling with took one bridge; another bridge the autonomists took. The police focused attention on the black bloc. Our group sent reinforcements of about 400 to the autonomist bridge, reinforcements mainly being French unionists, and the bridge remained popularly occupied.

The night before the demo the black bloc went crazy on the city. We worried that police would not be controlled during the bridge occupations. But things went okay, even though riot police from France and Germany were present, as well as large water cannon vehicles.

We marched past the border between Switzerland and France, and headed to Evian, but it was not well organized, so at the end of the demo, we decided not to go into France because there was nothing to do--no rally, etc. It was a hot sunny day.

That night the youth of Geneva went mad on the city, and police used heavy tear gas and water cannons on them. From what I could see, bystanders were largely sympathetic and mixed with the radical youth, thus preventing a clean sweep of the youth. Very interesting, in my opinion.

A British man (39 years) from London, unaffiliated with any groups I know of, and an experienced climber, was dropping a banner when the police cut his rope and he dropped 20 meters. He is in serious condition at a hospital. A British reporter was hit in the leg with a tear gas canister and is also in the hospital.

Several hundred youth have been detained and arrested because of smashed windows.

See the Philadelphia Indymedia report "IMC Raided in Geneva":
www.phillyimc.org/article.pl