BLOCKUPIED - Again: People from across Europe shut down ECB

For the second year running, citizens from around Europe swarmed the German city of Frankfurt, headquarters of the European Central Bank (ECB). Their aim: to 'Blockupy' the ECB on its 15^th anniversary. A great success in itself, it's also part of a growing movement across Europe against the austerity measures being undemocratically introduced by the ECB, European Commission and the IMF, collectively known as the Troika. It followed hot on the heels of #GlobalMay's month of resistance, and a few months after another direct attack on the Troika with the occupation of the European Commission here in Brussels under the banner 'For a European Spring'.

Austerity bites

Across Europe, attempts to repay the public debt – built up from bailing out the banks – are having devastating consequences on the lives of citizens. Deeper and deeper cuts are being made to public services, urged on by the Troika's three unelected institutions, against the will of the wider population. Labour rights are being attacked on mass – Belgium has been threatened with a heavy fine by the Commission if it doesn't fundamentally reform its wage setting structure, i.e. stop paying workers a decent wage. Any publicly-owned asset that is making a profit for the state and therefore supporting welfare is to be privatised. Rather than enacting policies that protect the vulnerable and rein in the financial institutions that caused the crisis, the Troika-imposed austerity is, ironically, benefiting those very same banks and corporations originally responsible. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has said that the potential for social unrest in the EU is higher than anywhere in the world as a result of increasing inequality: as austerity measures make the working and middle classes poorer, corporate profits are back to pre-crisis levels. People are rising up – just look to Turkey and Greece.

In the Belly of the Beast 

Back in Frankfurt, the fight against the Troika and their continued Neoliberal drive had an international flavour but unsurprisingly German. The anti-capitalist camp – where thousands slept when not Blockupying the city – was impeccably organised and laid out; the blocking of the bank was thoroughly planned and well delivered; and the demonstration – although stopped for nine hours by the police – would also have been a very well-oiled machine if democracy had been respected.

Day One – Friday – 4:45am

The day began early as the camp gathered at 5am under pre-designated flags. Setting off at dawn, a grey sky did nothing to diminish the electricity zipping between those in the crowd. Half an hour walk later, via various confusing twists and turns to keep the police on their toes, the march split into fingers, with more people feeding in from alternative starting points across the city. Each finger advanced on its own entrance road to the ECB where the police lay in wait, barricades already up, expecting confrontation. But our aim was peaceful. Despite the rain, spirits were high, with songs and chants coming in all languages, each nationality slowly picking up the words and lyrics of others – by the ends it felt like we all spoke Italian! All the bankers – and non-bankers – who tried to reach the financial heart of the city were peacefully turned away, and attempts by the police to move people on were non-violently resisted by human chains pushing back. One policeman, who unsuccessfully attempted to lead a charge into our barricade, was so shocked and frustrated by being 'kettled' by peaceful protesters, his eyes welled up and a tear ran down his cheek (there was no pepper spray in sight, so I assume it came from despair and heavily dented pride). 

The barricade was lifted by late morning, a decision taken collectively, having successfully blocked one of the key actors in the Troika. But the day was still young and the concept of Blockupy – using the tactic of occupation to block or shut down harmful activity – was put to good use throughout the afternoon. Deutsche Bank was targeted for its role in landgrabbing and abuses of human rights (it was also targeted in a mirror-action in Barcelona). Frankfurt's main airport, also a hub for deportations, saw hundreds descend upon it. Primark and United Colours of Benetton were Blockupied for the blood on their hands following the collapse of a factory they used in Bangladesh, killing over a thousand garment workers (see photos). Crowds blockupied Karstadt to support striking workers (which hadn’t stopped the owners brining in temporary staff), and by the end of the day the entire main shopping street had been brought to a standstill through protestors, clowns, passers by and the odd Troika aerobics class. A long day – 12 hours pounding the streets – but all peaceful and all successful.

Day Two – Saturday – a more relaxed start!

The second day was the set-piece: the organised march with more than 20 000 thousands from around Germany and Europe, having taken almost a year to organise by all the left-wing groups in Germany. Many groups who would normally refuse to share a platform, let alone a demo, had pulled together, including the trade unions. It coincided with the European day of protest against the Troika on 1^st June, and was set to march past the ECB itself, the route having been first banned by police but then overturned by the courts. But it seems the police don't like being overruled by the courts.

Setting off at midday, the colourful procession made it all of 600 metres before a violent police intervention separated the first thousand people who made up the anti-capitalist block from the rest. What appeared a temporary hold-up lasted 10 hours. The excuse was that people were wearing masks (they subsequently removed them), but in fact the intervention was always planned, as the police had been at that exact spot since 6am, waiting for their moment. One of the organisers from Die Linke (the Left Party), warned the federal police that their actions would be proven completely illegal in the courts, and the response was 'we know, but we're going to stop you anyway'. While the city and the courts had okayed it, 20,000 people marching past the ECB, making a clear political statement against austerity and Germany's role in imposing it, was clearly too great a risk to take for the interior minister and Frankfurt's Senator for Law and Order – both members of Angela Merkel's Conservative Party.

The Troika was not just represented by the ECB that day – it was on the streets of Frankfurt: the right to assemble, to demonstrate, were trampled. The police was used as a tool of repression against democratic rights and the ruling of the courts, to enforce crisis policies and suppress dissent. But their efforts failed. The whole demonstration supported our kettled thousand, refusing to divert their route and staying until the bitter end, despite over 300 people being injured through kicks, punches and large quantities of pepper spray – many of them in the second block, among them my colleagues, attempting to re-unite the march. Rather than let people peacefully continue, the police violently removed each and every one of us in the leading block, with the repression even being criticised by the normally-supportive right-wing media in Germany. Crystalising much of what was being felt on the streets, Blockupy's official post-event statement begins “They want capitalism without democracy, we want democracy without capitalism”. 

Despite the police tactics, the 10 hour wait and intermittent attempts to remove people, spirits remained high and solidarity grew. At one point, captured on film, the entire anti-capitalist bloc began dancing to 'We Are Your Friends'. Emma Goldman, the feminist anarchist who famously said 'If I can't dance, it's not my revolution!” would surely have been proud. And it wasn't just demonstrators supporting each other – the theatre on whose street we were kettled lowered from its third story windows bucket after bucket containing bottles of water, and at one point released a raft of balloons to great cheers. Throughout the 10 hours, messages of solidarity from Lisboa, Madrid, London and elsewhere filtered through, along with news of spontaneous marches springing up across Germany in solidarity. Coupled with news of people's continued resistance in the Taksim square, Turkey, it felt like a true pan-European movement.

Finally carried out by two police officers, photo taken, identification copied, ban from the city issued, the next step was back to the camp to celebrate our victory, something that deservedly lasted until a new day brought blue skies and sunshine.

A rising movement

The successful actions in Frankfurt served two very important purposes: it cemented a coalition among the German left that was previously unthinkable, creating a united voice that can bring a critique from within the belly of the beast; secondly, it showed other Europeans that even in Germany, the engine behind austerity, there is resistance and solidarity – that this is not a battle being fought by Southern countries against their Northern neighbours, but by citizens across Europe against governments and corporate interests who continue to protect the 1%. Both of these factors are crucial in building a pan-European movement of resistance against austerity, against the Troika, and against their continuing Neoliberal agenda. The strong European flavour in Frankfurt – Austrian, Belgians, British, Dutch, French, Greek, Italian, Spanish – means we can keep moving forwards together, connecting the dots of separate struggles across the continent and uniting behind the same cause of building a Europe that is part of a global movement for change. First North Africa and now Turkey show the need to look outward as well as inward.

By the time Blockupy 2014 takes place (coinciding with the opening of the new ECB building) the movement will have strengthened and who knows which new elements will be added, but one certain fixture with be here in Brussels with For a European Spring.