By Katie Nguyen Reuters Friday, December 14, 2001; 11:14 AM
BRUSSELS, Dec 14-Belgian police used water cannon and tear gas on Friday to disperse masked anarchists wielding cobblestones and metal staves during an anti- globalisation demonstration outside a European Union summit.
It was the first serious outbreak of violent protests since the September 11 attacks on the United States and recalled similar clashes at an EU summit in Sweden last June and at a meeting of the world's richest countries in Italy in July.
Witnesses said the rioters, some dressed in black and wearing heavy boots, smashed the windows of banks in Place Bockstael, a square about three km (two miles) from the Laeken royal palace where the two-day EU summit was being held.
They also hurled a metal barrier through the windows of a police station, wrecked several parked cars and daubed anti-capitalist slogans on boarded-up shop windows.
Police in riot gear surrounded a hard core of several hundred demonstrators and systematically searched people wanting to leave the area, confiscating sticks and stones.
They turned on about four water cannon in the Avenue du Port after protesters built fires on the street, and used loudhailers to urge the rioters to disperse.
Police said they had charged several protesters and had arrested one woman.
Peaceful March The riots erupted after about 8,000 demonstrators, far fewer than originally expected, had marched peacefully through an unusually chilly Brussels calling for an end to war and to economic inequalities.
The mood of the marchers was festive and relaxed as protesters danced, sang, blew whistles and beat drums. Only a few protesters were hooded and masked.
A mixed bag of anti-globalisation activists, anarchists and environmentalists, they brandished banners saying "Not in my name: stop the war!" and "Stop the massacre, free Palestine!"
One group of activists carried a banner anticipating police brutality after clashes at the EU summit in Gothenburg, Sweden, last June and the G8 summit in Genoa, Italy, in July.
"Gothenburg, Genoa, here's your next target," it said.
Many of the protesters chanted anti-war slogans.
Police Turn Water Cannon on EU Summit Protesters
By Katie Nguyen Reuters Friday, December 14, 2001; 11:14 AM
BRUSSELS, Dec 14-Belgian police used water cannon and tear gas on Friday to disperse masked anarchists wielding cobblestones and metal staves during an anti- globalisation demonstration outside a European Union summit.
It was the first serious outbreak of violent protests since the September 11 attacks on the United States and recalled similar clashes at an EU summit in Sweden last June and at a meeting of the world's richest countries in Italy in July.
Witnesses said the rioters, some dressed in black and wearing heavy boots, smashed the windows of banks in Place Bockstael, a square about three km (two miles) from the Laeken royal palace where the two-day EU summit was being held.
They also hurled a metal barrier through the windows of a police station, wrecked several parked cars and daubed anti-capitalist slogans on boarded-up shop windows.
Police in riot gear surrounded a hard core of several hundred demonstrators and systematically searched people wanting to leave the area, confiscating sticks and stones.
They turned on about four water cannon in the Avenue du Port after protesters built fires on the street, and used loudhailers to urge the rioters to disperse.
Police said they had charged several protesters and had arrested one woman.
Peaceful March The riots erupted after about 8,000 demonstrators, far fewer than originally expected, had marched peacefully through an unusually chilly Brussels calling for an end to war and to economic inequalities.
The mood of the marchers was festive and relaxed as protesters danced, sang, blew whistles and beat drums. Only a few protesters were hooded and masked.
A mixed bag of anti-globalisation activists, anarchists and environmentalists, they brandished banners saying "Not in my name: stop the war!" and "Stop the massacre, free Palestine!"
One group of activists carried a banner anticipating police brutality after clashes at the EU summit in Gothenburg, Sweden, last June and the G8 summit in Genoa, Italy, in July.
"Gothenburg, Genoa, here's your next target," it said.
Many of the protesters chanted anti-war slogans.
"Good for the rich, bad for the poor. We don't want your capitalist war," one group chanted in English.
Anti-globalisation protesters have increasingly pushed the anti-war theme since the United States launched a war in Afghanistan following the September 11 airliner attacks on New York and Washington.
"We see how this capitalist system creates endless poverty and we believe that's the fundamental reason behind the war," said Peter Lahti of the Swedish committee for the Workers' International.
Until the violence flared, police had kept a low profile, as during a similar, much bigger demonstration on Thursday by some 80,000 trade unionists which passed quietly.
But mayor Freddy Thielemans warned that police had orders to deal severely with any protesters who turned violent or tried to break away from the agreed march routes. one group chanted in English.
Anti-globalisation protesters have increasingly pushed the anti-war theme since the United States launched a war in Afghanistan following the September 11 airliner attacks on New York and Washington.
"We see how this capitalist system creates endless poverty and we believe that's the fundamental reason behind the war," said Peter Lahti of the Swedish committee for the Workers' International.
Until the violence flared, police had kept a low profile, as during a similar, much bigger demonstration on Thursday by some 80,000 trade unionists which passed quietly.
But mayor Freddy Thielemans warned that police had orders to deal severely with any protesters who turned violent or tried to break away from the agreed march routes.