Euromayday Aachen / Karlspreis-Protest 2008

in the morning 500 people converged behind two trucks to go to marktplatz. fascists attack pink contingent but are quickly put on the run by köln antifas. we run thru the city to get to destination. we pass one barrier of vans then another. people are stopped and others block police vans. finally about 50 get to the area were a megascreen pictures merkel and the others with charlemagne medal. we get up in front: no border no nation stop deportation in brussels and everywhere. mayday our day not your day. we are europe, you are the undemocratic rulers of the minor european empire of christian, nationalist, miitarist, charlemagne europe. thanks for poverty, discrimination, monetarism. as they waved the crowd we were there lifting the finger and screaming bastard at a barroso caught under a moment of rain and hail, at a trichet frozen is disbelief and outrage. then sun return bus from liege arrives and train from koeln. two other soundtrucks join, no border no precarity fight inequality, food not bombs too.

we are more than 1500 now. turin samba starts playing the vibe is good and we move slowly. they block the vegan truck of food not bombs -- another great group, le sabot is feeding maydayers night and day. we continue and stop at the station. at the same time, malaga maydayers are blocking a station at the same time because police wont make 2000 precarious and migrants leave for the parade. 6000 people and 9 trucks in berlin. 100.000 in milan at the mayday parade says the metalwokrers union!

we are sitting in front of the station asking the release of the four caught when a sitin at the start of parade blocked stream of black limousines and got arrested. we wont continue until  they are released. the atmosphere for a while winds down. people dance the chiki chiki  precario, listen to mayday songs, drink beer, listen to san precario mock prayers. speeches are made. but then the situation gets tense. 400 riot cops are moving in. we gotta move. the  organizers many close to die linke are hesitant. the cops are moving in we have no time to move enough people toward the road. the cops break the square in two. other than for clowns they split friends in two. two arrests are made before my eyes, two other on the other side. the cops try to push us away. we resist. then we move. suddenly they run after us. the  parade is broken. clown army and pink samba from liege completely surrounded. some escape on roofs receiving assistance from local people. than after more than one hour we manage to reach the columns and stairs were the sound system is booming. we count the missing; the legal team starts working to release the prisoners. when mike and sebastian get here they are cheered with relief. slowly also the others are liberated.

we defended mayday in aachen against karlspreis and exposed the extreme aggressiveness of the german version of the security state that sarko and berlusconi are building in france and italy. europower sought to provoke us into a riot and prevent freedom of movement and expression. they failed. mayday mayday all over europe, solidarity from activists and  protesteersfrom belgium, france, holland, italy, spain, japan  in aachen/ aix la chapelle, the city where charlmeagne is buried and where the eu oscar ceremony is held on ascension day each year. they had to take their hands off mayday this year. let's build a radical europe against discredited elites!