Shoot to Kill
The Dire Model of Things to Come
Call of social movements - Solidarity with the Gothenburg 41!
Join the international action day June 5th
Against the Swedish model of repressing summit protesters and criminalising them.
For the first time ever at a summit of international governmental representatives the police shot demonstrators in Gothenburg 2001 with live ammunition.
They almost killed one person and wounded two, one of them a bystander. Sweden has set a record during its EU-presidency in spring 2001 in oppressing summit protests by preventive police strategies, politicians and media accusing protesters of being terrorists and the worst ever sentences for summit protests.
238 times longer prison terms in total
The result is that the sentences after the summit protests in Sweden in total are 238 times harder than in Nice, Prague or Seattle!
In Seattle people were sentenced to a few days of imprisonment - maximum 9 days,
In Prague the sentences were suspended and none were imprisoned, some were deported though,
and in Nice two persons were given one month imprisonment each.
In Sweden, so far, 41 persons have been sentenced to 12 months average imprisonment being charged with violent rioting. At least 8 more people are waiting to be put on trial. The maximum length of these sentences in Sweden is two and a half year - which is 30 times more than the maximum sentence of any of the previous summits.
In total there are 476 months of imprisonment in Sweden since Gothenburg 2001.
Record of arresting people at summits or taking them into custody:
Sweden also set a record in terms of preventive actions against demonstrators at summits in the Western world, both considered as a part of the total amount of demonstrators at the summit or the total number of people who have been taken into custody by the police.
Already at the meeting of the EU finance ministers in MalmÃ, Sweden, on the 21 of April 2001, the Swedish police used a preventive strategy taking 266 demonstrators into custody out of a legal, broadly organised demonstration of 2000 people. This is 13.3 % of the demonstrators which is a higher percentage than at any other broad demonstration at a summit in the Western world since protest demonstrations at summits started in 1968.
In Gothenburg the Swedish police continued their preventive strategy by surrounding 500 people inside a school with hundreds of containers at the counter conference before any actions in the streets had taken place at all. The police finally stormed the school in search of weapons - but they did not find any.
The following day another preventive police action took place in Gothenburg against a demonstration where people started rioting and throwing stones at the police and policemen throw stones back at the demonstrators. At the end of the day the police attacked a street party which resulted in confrontations and policemen shooting people in the streets.
929 people were arrested or taken into custody by the police during the Gothenburg EU-Summit, the majority in connection with the police storming the school.
This amount of people being denied their freedom by the police at a summit has not been seen at any previous meeting - except in Prague 2000 where there were similar figures.
This new Swedish model of shooting live bullets at summit demonstrators and storming schools where demonstrators have their lodgings, meetings and information facilities was after Gothenburg 2001 applied to at the G-8 Summit in Genoa with even more brutal methods. The outcome of the court rulings from the repressive actions of the Italian government has not yet been finished but it is to be remembered that the Swedish government set the standards that the others now can follow.
5th of June
The 5th of June is worldwide commemorating of the UN Conference on environment hosted by the then Swedish prime minister Olof Palme 1972. This was the first time ever that popular movements held counter conferences, demonstrations and a dialogue with the official delegations at a summit.
Year 2001 the Swedish government instead introduced making the summits more undemocratic by unprecedented repression and criminalizing them.
We call upon using this date, the week before the anniversary of the EU Summit 15-16th of June, in order to make the Swedish and international public aware of these unacceptable repressive actions made by of the Swedish government!
We hope you will spread these protests as soon as possible so it can be known all over the world what people think of criminalising summit protests. In Gothenburg a demonstration and a meeting will be held on the 15th of June and we now ask for international solidarity:
Organization Friends of the Earth Sweden
Trade Union Central Organization of Sweden’s Workers (SAC)
Recently established Democracy Net
Call for peaceful protests at all Swedish embassies, consulates or similar places in support of the imprisoned persons and in order to stop the criminalisation and repression of summit protests or of the globalisation critical movement!
Hand over a petition; make a sit-in or a demonstration in solidarity with the Swedish and the international popular movements against the Swedish government!
Sweden 28 of April 2002
Tord BjÃrk, MiljÃfÃrbundet Jordens Vänner - Friends of the Earth Sweden, tord.bjork@mjv.se
Hannele Peltonen, SAC Syndikalisterna - Central Organization of Sweden’s Workers, sekretariatet@sac.se
Gerd Pettersson, Demokratinätet - Democracy Net, d.p@gerd.pp.se
Enclosed
About the trials after Gothenburg 2001
The maximum sentence after the Gothenburg EU-Summit has been two and a half years of imprisonment.
People have been sentenced to maximum punishment in trials without individual proof, sentenced for just sending mobile text messages telling others to show solidarity with the 500 people locked up inside a school behind containers by the police.
A trade unionist from Norway has been sentenced to longer terms of imprisonment in spite of the fact that there has been no proof at all that he has hit any policeman, while other persons stating no political interests at all have got away with shorter terms of imprisonment though they actually have hit policemen with stones.
During the trials it has been proved that the police force has manipulated video materials and several films showing police violence.
Both the film taken by a bystander wounded by the police and films taken by people who later were imprisoned have been lost by the police, so that these persons cannot use their own material to defend themselves.
In total, three times more demonstrators than policemen had to go to hospital after the confrontations in Gothenburg 2001.
Up to this date no one policeman has been charged with anything concerning the riots.
No investigations at all have been made of police conduct, not even of the policemen who fired the shots and wounded 3 people - one of them almost killed.
www.sac.se
Whatever Happened to Sweden’s
Non-Violent Posture During WWII?
Now “It’s Shoot to Kill”
Sweden: Join the International Action Day June 5th
Re: Gothenburg 2001
By demokrati
sekretariatet@sac.se
Posted on the Independent Newswire on 30 April 2002
Ref: www.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=177409
To the Push of Humanity
Phase 1 “Know” Menu
Looking for Justice in All the Wrong Places Menu
Insights-Reflections-Analysis Menu
Covering Up the Cover Up Menu
The Reality of Israeli Zionist Infiltration Menu
Are We On the Path of Expanding Liberty or Tyranny?
Declaring Independence and A State of Global Rebellion Menu
A Picture of the Stars and A Voice from the Ethers Menu
Interim Addendums During Phase 1
