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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Marxmax~enwiki (talk | contribs) at 11:52, 1 March 2006 (→Iranian Women). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

It was suggested that this article should be renamed Protests during the EU summit in Göteborg 2001. The vote is shown below:

this ought to be moved to a different article name. The protests in Göteborg 2001 were amongst the largest in Swedish modern history. Only parts of the events were of the character of "riots". I suggest that it be moved to Protests during the EU summit in Göteborg 2001. --212.60.73.2 11:36, 15 July 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I agree with a change from "riots" to "protests". Do note that Gothenburg is the preferred form for Göteborg on the English wikipedia. Personally, I would prefer Protests during the 2001 EU Gothenburg summit or something similar, perhaps with capitalised S. This form would correspond better with the majority of similar article titles here, I think./ Alarm 13:18, 15 July 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I would vote for a move to EU summit in Gothenburg of 2001 (perhaps with capitalised S) as per Seattle Riots redirecting to WTO Meeting of 1999 and Genoa Group of Eight Summit protest redirecting to 27th G8 summit. --Salleman 13:59, 15 July 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Either turn it into an article about the summit (obviously still focusing mainly on the protests) or leave at this name. It is the common name for the event. violet/riga (t) 14:38, 19 July 2005 (UTC)[reply]

This article has been renamed after the result of a move request. I've gone for "Protests during the EU summit in Gothenburg 2001". This seems to have some general support and is also only slightly different to the original request. violet/riga (t) 17:07, 25 July 2005 (UTC)[reply]

POV

This article is not neutral, especially the section about the media coverage (POV sentences in bold):

Media's coverage during the time, and directly after, were generally pro-police and anti-protester. There were no reports about police brutality in Swedish media, just the violence protesters used. There were no reports from the peaceful demonstrations either, in which over 10.000 people took part.
However, there were more and more critical voices in the media later on. A program from Mediemagasinet showed that the media lied in their reports about the shooting on the avenue. SVT's show Uppdrag Granskning later showed a couple of programs where they critized how the police handled the situation.

/Slarre 05:09, 23 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The following was deleated during a technical editing conflict. I also made one more change in the original text taking away the word lie:Tord Björk 18:34, 24 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
It is true that the text claiming no reports on police brutality and from the peaceful demonstrations are false. This is why I deleated that part.
But if the protest is directed against media being biased this has been confirmed by several reports and case studies. Comparing the official Gothenburg Committee report initiated by the Swedish government with the media coverage is enough to find this out. The largest coverage by the press was made by the local daily Göteborgsposten. In their report in a special issue of the paper on the protests minute by minute they state 15 cases of violence against police before mentioning police violence against demonstrators. As more demonstrators were wounded than policemen this kind of media coverage is highly biased.
A study made at Lund university (Nyhetsmedierna och Göteborgskravallerna, Jonny och Weine Sundell) showed how media changed during the Summit and 55 times turned the image of protesters into more prejorative context while not doing this in no case concerning the police. The study also showed how dominant Public service TV reversed the course of the events in its news showing policemen that started violent behaviour after pictures on demonstrators throwing things at the police in reaction to the police intervention. Regarding the shooting of one demonstrator the media has been proven to claim the original police version very long, and it is still dominant at some places like at the first version here at english wikipedia. It is not only SVT who has shown this but also other like the magazine Ordfront no 9/2001 (could also be the following number) with throughly analysis of the footage that was shown on international TV and took long time to undertsand the content of in Sweden. On sunday June 17 Expressen published parts of the footage but in the text still claiming the wrong police version contrafactual to the pictures which is clearly shown in Ordfront. It is true that there is criticism against media for not condemning the those who commited violent acts on the one side of the conflict. This is of course one opnion. But of more importance in encyclopedian context if facts are correct. here it is proven that media made grave mistakes, see sources above.
As much of the first version was built upon the first media coverage and had some wrong biased facts I have done a remake. I explain below the principles and sources.Tord Björk 18:34, 24 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]


Revert Tord Björk's edits?

If the article was POV beforore, after user:Tord Björk's edits I think it's down right horrible when it comes to NPOV compliance. Should we completely revert to the version previous to those edits? --J-Star 15:03, 24 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Or use facts and sources instead

Here are my sources to all changes made. Were are yours?. Tord Björk 17:03, 24 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Introduction to changes made

Two enable a good discussion I propose changes at first are discussed here inc luding mentioning of sources and quotes in the discussion forum before being made here. As the soruces are so many I do not find it useful to include all in the published text but as far as possible I mention them here.

First I also list some proposals for general principles in the discussion. Why I believe this is necessary is due to the very heated discussion in Sweden. I hope a more structured discussion will enable a better way of sorting smalla and big and what will be claimed to relevant or not. I am aware of that at the present stage the article is long, maybe to long. The reason for this is that the issue is so congtroversial. Hopefully it can become less controversial in the future and then shortened.

Tord Björk 17:03, 24 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

General principles

Look at other encyclopedian texts

As a principle the text ought to follow similar pattern as usual in encyclopedian texts. Eg look at riots

Include political content

What was lacking in the original version was the political content. In texts on riots from Nika riots 539 to Mar del Plata Summit of the Americas 2005 it is the normal case to empahisis and thus I included it also here. Biased reports normally claim that protests have no political roots and can be only seen as crminal acts. Some Gothenburg reports are biased towards seeing the conflict as outside a politicial context as good versus bad demonstrators vs police. This is not NPOV. I include both the politics of the official process including a link to the offical website, the demands from the biggest demonstration coalitions and the political interventions regarding the riots.

Include historically new facts

if there is new elements that is different from earlier history, especially if that is the case also in international comparisment. I thus include the new American kind of proactive police tactics that was used for the first time in a lrage scale at Gothenburg, later also used at Genova G8 protests.

treat everybody equal

The earlier version had texts on police preparation and their evaluation, and nothing on how demonstrations networks prepared or reacted afterwards. I have not changed this yet much. It is also necessary to look eqaully on differences between rank-and-file policemen and demonstrators as well as at those responsible for demonstration coalitions, the police or political parties.

Sources?

In the case of Gothenburg protests no sources have been reliable so far. Eeven the different police units quarrel with each other and the courts acted in a way that i still under discussion by the chancellor of Justice/JK. So here principles are needed.

Primary souces more valid than secondary

What journalist state is not important if they were not at the scene, what policemen, bystanders and demonstrators say are important especially if it has been tested against other statements and been open to criticism.

Quotes

Quotes as long as they are not disputed are useful in any newspapers, scientific reports, trials etc. Especially important are such quotes that claims that not only the side which the person making the quote did not come from made something wrong.

Balancing different sources

I have used five main soruces. One the one hand are the Gothenburg Police report and the official report made by Gothenburg Committe set up by the Swedish Giverment chaired by former prime minister Ingvar Carlsson. I label these later as PO and GC. Both are biased, GC less so. The bias is structured in different ways. Firstly important parts are hidden in the Commision archives hard to reach although they are public. here there are the facts that the police chef Jaldung went to educate himself more than 40 times in the US and some occasions of how polise started violence which is taken away from the presentation of the report on the course of events. But still GC is highly useful as here for the first time criticism from all sides becomes more open. When GP is full of speculations on intentions GC is more basic facts.

On the other side I use Anders Svensson diary and Hans Abrahamsson texts. I label these AS and HA. AS diary has been proven to be very useful in the trials as it was written down immediately after the events, http://www.zaramis.nu/goteborg/. AS was mediator at Hvitfeldtska and active with all three big demonstrations and responsible at Schillerska when the police stormed the school. No public written criticism against his diary or reports on the use of weapons have been made to my knowledge except for his description of Anti Capitalist March, a demonstration he and his Socialist Party not was involved in. HA is an academician and active in Attac. He was involved in all dialogues with the government and the EU, mediator at Hvitfeldtska, Free Forum and at Järntorget between police and demonstrators. He has been writing on the dialogue, police tactics and Hvitfeldtska.

Apart from this Erik Wijk has made a compilation of some hundreds quotes from different soucres including the trials regarding all events during the protest. This is compiled in a useful thick book with a summary of the Gothenburg trials. There are also some video material. Useful is recordings of Public Service news which I have myself and has been inestigated by others in a written report. there is also Public Service documentary program as well as the video Så här gör vi i Göteborg and Hotet mot demokratin.

I use GC and AS as prime sources. When they disagree I try to state opnions from both sources. I do not use media reports unless there are at times useful quotes that do not seems to be biased. EW is useful to this

Comments on the present and earlier text

The protests during the EU summit in Gothenburg 2001, parts of which are often called the Gothenburg Riots (In Swedish: Göteborgskravallerna), took place in the Swedish city of Gothenburg during the three days of the EU summit (the European Council) and EU-US Summit , June 14, 15, 16, 2001. The EU Summit focused upon EU enlargement, sustainable development, economic growth and structural reform issues. The EU-US summit included a visit by U.S. president George W. Bush on June 14. It was the first U.S. presidential visit to Sweden, and was intended as an opportunity to discuss differences on climate negotiations, WTO and Middle East issues with the EU leaders.

added political contentTord Björk 17:03, 24 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The main protests was organised by three broad coalitions, one local coalition Bush Go home opposing US policy, one Swedish based Network Gothenburg 2001 against Swedish membership in the EU and EMU and one international Gothenburg Action 2001 towards another Europe opposing EU militarisation, the Schengen agreement, defending the public sector and the environment from becoming trade commodites and EMU. There was also a broad Iranian and a smaller Anti-capitalist coalition as well as nonviolence networks and Reclaim the Streets organising demonstrations and a street party.

added the whole paragraph including political contentTord Björk 17:03, 24 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

In total, according to the police more than 50,000 demonstrators gathered in Gothenburg during the days of the summit, a smaller amount of foreign nationality. The demonstrating organisations arranged many conferences, some together with educational initiatives. The biggest was Free Forum with 25,000 visitors. The summit was guarded by at most 2500 policemen. At the convergence center the police made a proactive intervention releasing riots on June 14. Riots also occured in conjunction with a demonstration with 2000 participants organised by the anticapitalist coalition in the morning of June 15 resulting in violent clashes with the police and severe damaging on the main street Avenyn.

added number of participants at the largest conference. Added the term releasing riots on June 14. In swedish the term used is utlöste. The term puts a chronological sequence to what heppende, not necessarily claiming that the police in this sence was guilty but anyway claining that it is not as oin many cases at riots the police intefering after disturbances have occured. The term released/utlöste was used by the Supreme court in a riot case on June 14 when they lowered the sentence five times. It is controversial among them who claim demonstrators provoced the police but as the Supreme court with its need to be precise used this wording it can be stated as not biased.
In Swedish the term is "utlöste", but in English, I would say "caused" is a better word.
As a whole, I think this article is in need of a grammar/spelling check. I have done some minor changes, but I am not a native English speaker myself. Maybe someone who is could volunteer?
Marxmax 13:43, 27 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
I do not agree on using the word until very closely examine the meaning. The reason is that the meaning to it that I and I guess the Supreme court will give to it is only chronological, not thereby claiming necessary guilt on one or other part. If one starts with that one will easily end up in too many one says so the other says so and will never get a version that also contains some consensus at least from the highest authrority above the police and others. My english is not good enough for the choice of words here but clearly I want to have a consensus on chronological wording which i state is possible from POV point of view but not claiming of guilt which is at present anyway not possible.Tord Björk 00:05, 28 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
I see your point about sticking to the Supreme court's words, but to me "release" sounds like there was a riot just waiting to occur - a meaning that the word "utlöste" does not have in Swedish. Maybe "triggered" would be better? It does not place the guilt as clearly on the police as "caused" does, but still states that the police had a clear role in at least when the riots started, which must have been the Supreme court's intention.

--Marxmax 11:24, 28 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I also changed the original false claim that the riots occured in conjunction with demonstrations and than stating it had 12.000 participants. This is a mistake as no one of the big demonstrations turned into riots according to the police. it was the smaller one that didTord Björk 17:03, 24 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

At the Reclaim the streets party on the eve of June 15 riots occured again. The violence reached its peak when a police squad came under attack by militants throwing cobblestones and similar objects. Eventually, this led to the near fatal shooting of a demonstrator. It was the first use of lethal violence against a Swedish demonstration since the Ådalen shootings in 1931.

no change. Tord Björk 17:03, 24 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

On June 16 the police continued escalated the proactive tactic ordering interventions against all demonstrations and storming the demonstrators convention center at Schillerska school with an anti-terrorist squad. But demonstrations guards from Gothenburg action and Attac were able to intervene against attempts to provoce violent acts and riots did not occur. They were also helped by lower-rank officers that did not carry out orders.

added as this day included the most extreme police interventions but was helped by unusual tactics, police mutiny at two occasions and demonstration guards. Historically this mutinity is important and seldom. It has more or less nowhere been reported except in GC and a Gothenburg university book on the Gothenburg events. Tord Björk 17:03, 24 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The riots were followed by long prison sentences for 64 persons convicted of militant behavior, in total demonstrators were sent to prison for almost 50 years. As of 2005, no policeman has been convicted of wrong doing.

added the total number of years in prison. This is also historical compared to both earlier cases in sweden and to comparable protest in Seattle, Prague and Nice were tht totasl sum was at most some months.

Background

The summit meeting of the European Union was notable because heads of states from the EU gathered in Gothenburg, and also because the American President George W. Bush visited Sweden for the first time on the day before the summit meeting. As a reaction to this, protesters from all over the world planned to gather in Gothenburg to demonstrate under different banners. The City of Gothenburg assisted the out-of-town protesters by providing living quarters in different schools around Gothenburg and a convergence center, first at Hvitfeldtska school and later moved to Schillerska school.

added convergence center as this role weas as important as lving quarters. Tord Björk 17:03, 24 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The political background to the protests was a conjuncture of three forces. EU-criticism and opposition to membership in the EU was stronger in Sweden than anywhere else in the union. Secondly a wave of globalization protests against neoliberalism had gained momentum after the protests during the EU Summit in Amsterdam 1997 and the WTO meeting in Seattle 1999. Anti war and environmental concerns against the US was a third factor.

added this political background. Tord Björk 17:03, 24 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The police planned and gathered its forces in anticipation of the meeting. Never before had this many head of states met in Sweden, and thousands of police were to stand guard in Gothenburg to keep order during these three days of June 2001. The police had long prepared for disturbances and also had many different intelligence services directed at the groups participating in the planning of demonstrations. There was differing opinions amongst the police forces involved. The security police did not want the Hvitfeldtska school to be used as they ment it was to close to the EU Summit while the Gothenburg police insisted on having the demonstrators there. American police tactics against protesters were in use such as a psycho-tactic unit that was supposed to have a dialogue with demonstrating organisations.

added the historically exceptional differences between different police forces which also later became a problem. Apart from the police and intelligence forces here mentiones there were a lot more around including Secret Service etc. Psyho tactic unit was not included in WP so i guess someone have to describe it. We have learned in Swedenit how it primarily do not workTord Björk 17:03, 24 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The police, the local authority and the different demonstration coalitions had arranged a dialogue group where they planned and discussed the demonstrations to ensure they would be as peaceful as possible.

Chronology

June 14

The events at Hvitfeldtska

The school of Hvitfeldtska Gymnasiet had been lent out by the municipality of Gothenburg to Gothenburg Action and Attac to be used as a convergence center and for housing for the out-of-town protesters. More than 650 people were living at Hvitfeldtska and some also came to the information center and to attend conferences, meetings and seminars. At the school there was also a workshops for preparing white overalls activists planning to oppose the Schengen agreement by dressing up in ice-hockey and other similar defensive material and then by nonviolent means try to enter the EU Summit the following day. On the morning of June 14, the police decided to surround and close off Hvitfeldtska at 11 o'clock in the morning. This occurred at the same time as U.S. president George W Bush’s plane, the Air Force One, landed outside the city.

Added white overalls as they according to the police chef were crucial the threat fropm Hvitfeldtska as well as conference center as this wa scrucial to demonstration organisations. Seems necessary to write what a convergence center and white overall tactics are, they must be on the italian WP as Tutti Bianchi. But the context also explains. Tord Björk 17:03, 24 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Hundreds of policemen surrounded the school. No one was allowed to leave or enter, and the people inside were given no information of what was going on. Journalists were not allowed to come near the area. At noon, the police chef Håkan Jaldung, spoke at a press conference and declared that almost all of the people inside Hvitfeldtska were suspected for preparing different crimes. However, at this time, no criminal activity had taken place at the school according to both the security police units that had infiltrated the school and the organisations renting the school.

rearranged in chronogical order and added the piece on security police (GC and AS) that had different opinion from the police chef.Tord Björk 17:03, 24 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

After a while, the police constructed a wall of more than 100 containers around the school. Inside the school, and in the schoolyard, the demonstrators held meetings and discussed how best to handle the situation. Negotiations started with the police with mediators in collaboration with the psycho-tactic police unit. Around 3 o’clock in the afternoon, a few of the demonstrators were allowed to leave the school area during a period of uncertainty amongst the policemen. Approx. 100 people left the school at this point after agreeing to being searched by the police but without promise of what they could keep with them. However, most of the people inside the school didn’t know this was happening and missed the opportunity to leave Hvitfeldtska and many stayed in solidarity with the white overalls who tried to negotiate their terms to get out. The police chef took away the mandate for the psychotactic unit and the negotiations ended in confusion. According to the police chef due to that the negotiations did not come to a conclusion, according to the mediators a conclusion on the last issue of white overall material was at hand and the problems could be solved.

rearranged in chronogical order and added the piece on negotiations (GC, HA and AS).Tord Björk 17:03, 24 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

200 people lined up to demand their right to go to the ongoing demonstration against Bush. In total some 200 people with some 30 white overalls in the front followed by some 50 syndicalist trade unionists, a black block and a mixed group of pacifist and others at the rear. The attempt to get through the police cordon through white overall tactics failed when the front white overalls where severly beaten while they themselves did not hit the police. When the demonstrations peacefully backed in a narrow ally towards the school the police charged violently at half past four on horses, with batons and with dogs provocing a violent reaction by the use of throwing cobble stones from some demonstrators.

see above.Tord Björk 17:03, 24 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Some demonstrators were able to block themselves in the school. Finally, at 10 o’clock in the evening the battle was over and police invaded the school, detaining approximately 500 people and removing them by bus.

Outside Hvitfeldtska the closing of the convergence center and trapping of more than 500 pesons inside caused immediate reactions. In the streets nearby and in the Vasa park clashes between police and protesters occured that turned into riots. The police charged on horses against protesters and the demonstrators used cobble stones against the police. The protests reached their climax in the evening when some 2 000 people gathered outside the container wall. They stormed the police chain thus enabling some 30 people that had been trapped inside Hvitfeldtska to flee getting across the container wall and coming outside the police cordon.

see above.Tord Björk 17:03, 24 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Iranian Women

At 12 noon a broad coalition of Iranian exil groups organised a demonstration at Götaplatsen to protest against the Iranian government. It was according to the police peaceful and had 10 000 participants. No report was made in massmedia about this event.

added as this is a big demonstration totally ignored by everybody, from GP.:see above.Tord Björk 17:03, 24 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
GP does not state that the demo was totally ignored. The demonstration did not get much attention, but was in fact mentioned by SVT (http://www.svt.se/nyheter/2001/010614/111.html) (in Swedish) Marxmax 11:52, 1 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Bush not welcome

A broad coalition from the locally strong marxist leninist revolutionary party to Attac started their demonstration at 5.30 in the afternoon from the city center. The ongoing police operation at Hvitfeldtska school caused severe tensions among the demonstrators. Some left to protest directly outside the school and others joined after the closing of the demonstration at Götaplatsen. Speeches were held by Friends of the Earth US against Bush climate policy and by others against US imperialism. Number of participants according to the police was 15 000.

added on tensions from GC and AS.:see above.Tord Björk 17:03, 24 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The events at Hvitfeldtska Gymnasiet on June 14, 2001 are considered to have been the start of the Gothenburg Riots, which would continue during the next day. The claims by the police that there were weapons inside the school was never confirmed as no such weapons, molotov cocktails or other, was found after the police took control over the buildings.

added claims and actual existing weapons from AS and :see above.Tord Björk 17:03, 24 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The proactive police tactic used was new to Sweden. It had been developed in the US after the Seattle protests 1999 against protests in Washington against the World Bank and at the Republican convent in Philadelphia in 2000. Buildings with activists were encircled at both occasions by the police on claims that there was lethal weapons inside, than they were stormed while protesters outside started riots. Letal weapons was never found. The difference is that in Gothenburg the same police method was used in ten times larger scale against the core of the organisation causing a lot more chaos disenabling the international demonstration coalition to maintain any ordered contact with the tens of thousand protesters in the city.

On American police tactics after Seattle se HA in Le Monde Diplomatique, Nordic edition (I will try to find the sepcific number and some other sources).:see above.Tord Björk 17:03, 24 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

June 15

The Anti Capitalist March

Early in the morning of June 15 the Anti-capitalist March against the EU summit started at Götaplatsen at 10.30. It was organised by Justice Party - the Socialists, International Socialists and the Nonviolent Network. Approx. 2.000 people had gathered, among a minority of members of the white overalls and black block who cancelled their own actions after the police operation against Hvitfeldtska. The organisers did not recieve a permit but had ongoing dialogue with the police and had the right according to the freedom of meeting act to demonstrate.

radical changes made. False number 12,000 changed to 2.000. Responsible organisations added and that other groups also participated. There were a smalla nonviolent action earlier this morning that i have excluded as it caused no conflicts and included few participants and a bigger meeting organised by Gothenburg actin with 3.000 poartcipants that is also excluded as there were no reports on clasches at this stage. GP, GC and AS and EW.:see above.Tord Björk 17:03, 24 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

On their way down a street some blocks away from the EU Summit the police chef ordered an intervention against a group of demonstrators before violence occured and without contacting the organisers of the demonstration. Some moments later this was carried out by policemen with dogs who attacked demonstrators and bystanders causing bloodshed from biting dogs and batons. No order to disperse was issued. Mounted police surrounded the demonstration. Panic erupted. A group of black block demonstrators countercharged the police which had to flee. A large amount of cobble stones were thrown at the police causing severe wounds.

rearranged according to GC and EW. :see above.Tord Björk 17:03, 24 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The riots on Kungsportsavenyn

Some 150-200 demonstrators out of whom 50-70 were active according to the police started after 11 o’clock vandalizing the nearby Kungsport Avenue, the main high street of Gothenburg. Rioters were smashing windows and burning outdoor furniture. The damage was the most severe during the whole Gothenburg riots with an estimated cost of 5 million SEK. The protesters were at first left alone by the police but then clashes between police and protesters continued. After a while policemen also started to throw cobble stones back at the protesters.

added property damage figure from Chamber of Commerce. At first and still even in some scientific accounts the first never corretc figur of 100 million SEK is mentioned. But this is false. Property damage also occured at the Reclaim the street party later but much less. The Chamber of Commerce also state that they lost a lot more money on the erection of a zone outsid the EU Summit which resulted in losses of tens of millions to companies. Why the false figure 100 million dominated for so long has never been studied.:see above.Tord Björk 17:03, 24 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Political and media intervention

Simultanously a regular dialog meeting between the police, local authority and demonstration coalitions was held at 12 o’clock. Here the social democrat, Göran Johansson chair of Gothenburg city council and member of the national party board proposed that a common statement should be made denouncing all demonstrating assailants. This was not accepted as it would state that the violence only was caused by one part. Instead the meeting unanimously denounced all violence. It was also decided to carry out the planned demonstrations as planned.

all on video. Most of it in Hotet mot demokratin.:see above.Tord Björk 17:03, 24 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Also Mass media started to change their position from questioning both sides to claim that it was the protesters that provoced the riots. The lead took Public Service television STV. In the 12 o’clock news the order of the videoclippings from the start of the riots and the story was reversed. The first violence when police dogs were biting demonstrators was shown after the first reaction on the police intervention when a person started to throw things at the police. From now on mass media was predominantly telling the story that violence was started unprovoked by protesters and the police reacted in self-defence.

Nyhetsmedierna och Göteborgskravallerna (Jonny och Weine Sundell, 2002)Tord Björk 17:03, 24 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The Free Forum and Viktoria bridge

The police continued to chase persons close to the city center. Finally they encircled a group of people at the Viktoria bridge and attacked without being provoked people inside the nearby Free Forum outdoor entrence area. The chair of the Green Youth, Zaida Catalan was beaten from behind to the ground by the police and panic started to emerge among some thousand people present. Attac was able to mediate and the police avoided further intrusion in the Free Forum area. After a while 124 persons on the bridge that peacefully was sitting down singing pacifist songs were arrested at 2 o’clock. Witnesses claimed that the people on the bridge had nothing to do with the riots. Police admitted later that they did not no if it was only 100 or 25 out of the arrested that were suspected of participating in the earlier riot.

AS, EW and GC.Tord Björk 17:03, 24 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

No to EU

While assembling to start at 6 o’clock the No to EU demonstration organised by Network Gothenburg 2001 the Norwegian delegation was attacked by 30 right wing extremist armed with big pieces of metal causing bloodshed. The well-organised delegation that had secured good contacts with the police in advanced called for help from the police but had to sort the situation out themselves. The rest of the demonstration went without disturbances. The number of participants was according to the police and the organisers 20 000.

GC and Göteborg 14. til 17. juni 2001: 15 norske beretninger fra EU toppmøtet. a report made at the university in Oslo. Tord Björk 17:03, 24 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The final was at Götaplatsen were speakers critisized EU from democratic, trade union, peace and other perspectives. Most attention did the Green European MP Per Gahrton and the leader of the Left Party Gudrun Schyman get. Gahrton critisized both police and demonstrators that used violence, Schyman strongly denounced hooligans that had destroyed Avenyn in front of her earlier that day and did not mention the role of the police.

added as a political content. Please add sources, was present myself together with many othersTord Björk 17:03, 24 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The shootings at Vasaplatsen

On the evening of June 15 at 8 o’clock, a party was arranged by Reclaim the Streets at Vasaplatsen. The street party was provoced by a group of neonazis that started fighting. The provocateurs were chased away but their followers was stopped by police that now came to the scene and started to seal off the park.

earlier version stated only that there was witnesses stating this. Now GC claims the same so there is no need for that any longer. GC and EW. Tord Björk 17:03, 24 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Heavy rioting broke out and a smaller group of police officers were subjected to a massive attack in which one of them was struck down. While defending the colleague the other officers fired warning-shots with their sidearms. This halted the bulk of the attack. One attacker continued to throw rocks in the direction of the fallen policeman. Two officers fired at the rioter who was critically injured. Two other people received light injuries by ricochets.

no changes made i think.Tord Björk 17:03, 24 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

A criminal investigation against the police officers was opened but later closed as it found that they had acted in defence of the struck down officer. When more evidence became available in the form of video recordings, the investigation was re-opened twice and both times closed again as the ruling remained the same.

added the part on percieved self defence, EW.Tord Björk 17:03, 24 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Here i made a mistake due to technical editing conflict. The version I wrote originally was: It was not claimed that the attacker could threaten the fallen officer, he did not even reach the chasing officers with his stones. But it was ruled that the officers could subjectively percieve the situation as self defence and thus they were found not guilty.
This was according to 14:57, 24 February 2006 J-Star changed into:When more evidence became available in the form of video recordings, the investigation was re-opened twice and both times closed again as the ruling remained the same. He refers to: (→The shootings at Vasaplatsen - Major POV & Fact-fix. Source: TV-images from the incident, the document from the criminal investigation.)
To those interested a crucial shot from the TV-images used in the trial is still available at: http://www.svt.se/nyheter/2002/020118/107.html. The picture was taken immediatly after the shot aimed on purpose to hit lethal parts of the body. The complete videoshot makes a panorama showing that the person shot is almost alone. Right before he was shot he throw smaller stones that did not reach the policemen in the front. There are some dozen policemen who have advanced towards him and the strucken down policemen is claimed to lie behind them far in the background.
Generally in encycplopedia it is the course of events which is important to write about. How the picture refered to by J-Star explains that the shot was in self-defence of the strucken officer far away is interesting to know. I claim that no unbiased person claims that the picture shows selfdefence of a strucken down officer behind the many policemen but also that many might agree to one point in the investigation that the policemen perceived the situation as self defence and thus psychologically where in such a state that they can be defended according to the law with its different treatement of occiers and other people. But juridical twists is not to have priority over a correct presentationof the course of the events. Look at the picture and make your own judgement. Tord Björk

June 16

Political interventions and negotiations

The night between June 15 and June 16, the situation was tense with one shot demonstrator at hospital which might not survive.

The minister of Justice Thomas Bodström, that at the beginning of the confrontations was out-of-town changed his mind. At first he had commented upon the events that it was necessary to find out more information, at midnight he together with prime minister Göran Persson claimed that the confrontations was the result of criminals coming to Gothenburg with the only purpose of starting violence.

TV news. (STV).Tord Björk 17:03, 24 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The ministers had already been supported by the biggest parliamentary party related to the demonstrators when Left Party leader Schyman falsely in the televion news claimed that demonstration coalitions had unanimously denounced assailants as if theviolent acts of the police not were included. Later the Green party took milder positions in the same direction. The demonstrators had lost all parliamentarian support in Sweden.

TV at 9 o'clock (STV). Green party official statementTord Björk 17:03, 24 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

During the night 600 people gathered at Schillerska school which by the municipality had been given as a new convergence center. It was decided to demand that the police chef Jaldung was dismissed. Gothenburg Action decided that it was better to carry on the plans to hold an international demonstration but propose to the police another route not going into the city that was now filled with containers. Rather than having tens of thousands of demonstrators dispersed in the city it was felt that it was more safe to gather them and demonstrate. It was also decided to give one person the right to change the order of the black block in the demonstration not following the preplanned structure. In the negotiations with police and local authority the police also proposed changed route and it was decided to carry out the demonstration inte the manner as previously decided.

added, AS, also in the end GC.(STV).Tord Björk 17:03, 24 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

EU-critical demonstration

At 11 o’clock in the morning Gothenburg Action started the demonstration at Slottskogen towards Järntorget. No incidents occured until police charged the demonstration at Järntorget ordered by the police chef at 12:30 in conflict with the agreement between organisers and the police. Due to the change of order the black block had partly passed and demonstration guards could stop the police provocation peacefully helped by lower ranked officers that did not want to carry out orders afraid of being beaten. The demonstration continued without further incidents back again to Slottskogen. According to the organisers there was 20 000 partcipants, according to the police 15 000.

AS, The facts on refusal to follow orders from GC.Tord Björk 17:03, 24 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The events at Järntorget

Later at 6 o’clock in the afternoon people massed at Järntorget square, protesting police brutality. Before long the riot police showed up and encircled some 500 peaceful demonstrators with 800 officers. At the time everything was calm and several citizens were walking about. The police started a siege which lasted for 4 hours and involved hundreds of people. Some were arrested. Finally the police chief in charge, demanded from his superiors information regarding under what law the operation could continue. As he recieved no immediate answer he dispersed the participants. When Håkan Jaldung heard of this he immediately demanded the continuity of the siege, but was too late as the people had already been released.

slight changes made from original and added figures based on GC.Tord Björk 17:03, 24 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The events at Schillerska Gymnasiet

The police claimed to have information that an armed blond German terrorist was located at Schillerska Gymnasiet were the convergence center was located. This caused the police to launch an attack on the eve of June 16, similar to that at Hvitfeldtska but now using the heavily armed terrorist unit. A serious claim of police brutality is connected to this event. The police forced a hundred of young protestors to lay down of the concrete floor, or even in the schoolyard mud for several hours. Foreigners were treated escpecially bad. No German terrorist was found.

slight changes made. Tord Björk 17:03, 24 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Aftermath

Media

Media's coverage during the time, and directly after, was generally pro-police and anti-protester. However, there were more and more critical voices in the media later on. A program from Mediemagasinet showed that the media lied in their reports about the shooting on the avenue. SVT's show Uppdrag Granskning later showed a couple of programs where they critized how the police handled the situation. The strong criticism of the police in the officially appointed Gothenburg commision

erased incorrect parts. Used a case study above in the 12 o'clock news to show how the media biased the reports. There are more strong cirticism but i think this will do. I alos see that my final sentence is incomplete. Tord Björk 17:03, 24 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The POV of the police

The officers in command of the action stated that they were very pleased with how the police had served during the summit (an opinion which at the time was shared by the government). It was claimed that the police successfully had used advance information about demonstrators and undercover police officers among the demonstrators to among other things find out about the "secret" information central.

According to the police, they acted completely in accordance with the Police Law. However, this claim has been heavily criticised by many jurists.

The Swedish Police Union strongly criticised the way the police actions had been led and managed. Among other things the majority of the police officer stated that they did not get enough resources to carry out their duties in a proper manner.

no chnages made, There should for reasons of balance also be inbcluded some on popular movement evaluation. maybe i do that later.Tord Björk 17:03, 24 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Statistics

  • Wounded demonstrators: 90
  • Wounded policemen: 53
  • Number of arrests: 1115
  • Number of verdicts: 64
  • Of whom policemen: 0

The Gothenburg trials

The total sum of the sentences following the riots during the EU summit were roughly 50 years in prison, which according to the journalist Erik Wijk is 12 times more than earlier riots. No policemen were convicted despite a large amount of complaints.

During the trial the police used a video tape as evidence. Later they admitted that the footage had been altered. It had been edited so that events on the tape was shown out of order and they also had altered the sountrack.

One of the most noticed cases is the so called information central, which was stormed by Nationella insatsstyrkan during the first day of the summit. A total of 8 persons (five men, three women) were sentenced to long prison sentences after having sent out SMS texts urging people to go to Hvitfeldtska gymnasiet in connection with the police shutdown of the school. The case attracted much attention among other things because the prosecutor used circular arguments: activists in other trials were accused for having contact with the criminal information central, while the people of the information central were accused of having contacts with criminals on the outside.

No changes made.Tord Björk 17:03, 24 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Participating organizations

Göteborgsaktionen ("The Gothenburg Action," in total 87 organizations out of whom whom 33 were Swedish, 22 Danish, 9 Finnish, 5 Norwegian, 4 European and some other mainly from different Eastern European countries)

Nätverket Göteborg ("The Gothenburg Network," in total more than 20 organizations)

small changes made deleating Danish Rdö ungdom that was not active including Socilaist party also in Gothenburg Action which was very active, Euromarches that has since 1997 organised demonstrations at EU Summits etc. And how many came from different countries.

Sources

A lot has been written about the Gothenburg riots in Swedish. Notably:

  • EU 2001-kommenderingen, Utvärdering 2002-03-19, Polismyndigheten i Västra Götaland
  • Göteborg 2001, Betänkande av Göteborgskommittén, SOU 2002:122
  • Göteborgskravallerna och processerna, Erik Wijk, Manifest, 2002 ISBN 9189291190
  • Om tidigare kravaller: Svensk arbetarrörelse under hundra år, Ture Nerman, Tiden, 1938

Official EU Summit web site: http://www.eu2001.se/static/eng/eusummit/goteborg_1.asp

So far i only included the official website her. I will add some more. Tord Björk 17:03, 24 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

See also

Her i added police riot.Tord Björk 17:03, 24 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

sv:Göteborgskravallerna

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