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Did you ever wonder what happened to the people who got nicked in queeruption in Barcelona? 9 people arrested, assaulted by police, and facing a trial that could result in prison sentences and fines of up to 80,000 euros...BEHIND BARS is a queer D.I.Y collective which formed in a collaboration to pay off the outstanding charges and fines held against the few individuals who were arrested nearing the end of a demonstration in affiliation with Queeruption 8 Karcelona.
*(more info below)
BEHIND BARS is currently raising money to support other struggles, such as grass roots movements like NO BORDERS, striving to abolish detention centres and the unjust controlling of people's rights to international movement; aswell as animal rights activists struggling to uphold animal welfare.
So that the maximum of the money raised is not diminished through expenses, we always present our benefits in squats and other autonomous spaces. We raise money by donation, so none of the performers, musicians, DJs, VJs, door & bar staff and exhibitionists in general pocket anything – we gather in stake of sexual and gender equality, to shed the isms that provoke the phobic and paranoid relations that lead to segregation. We are always looking to expose talent with a message and we support an open stage/workshop policy so please don't hesitate to share your thoughts with us...
We DO NOT tolerate phobic behaviour!
* "Queeruption 8 Karcelona", a self-organized international gathering of radical queers, took place in Barcelona in the first week of June 2005. Many different activities happened throughout the gathering, both inside and outside the space that had been squatted for the event. One of the many ideas which came up was to organize a fun, festive and empowering demonstration through Barcelona’s commercial gay district, the Gayxample. The intention was to be publicly critical of the bars, clubs and other businesses which market themselves to a gay public and which some of us from Queeruption understood to play an important role in the creation of stereotypes of what is "gay" - the ghettoisation and commercialization of our sexualities - and pink capitalism. The aim was also to give people something to think about, to occupy public space and to have a party, and above all to give some visibility to alternative, non-commercial spaces where people can get together and escape heteronormativity and homo-lesbo-trans-phobia.
Along the route of the colourful demo, leaflets were handed out explaining what it was about, different slogans were shouted, lots of noise was made and people decorated the walls with their thoughts. However, there were also moments of poor communication, which caused misunderstandings between clients of the commercial establishments and participants on the demonstration. As part of our struggle against homophobia we would like to have been able to avoid these misunderstandings, and any negative emotions that arose from them.
There were also moments of confusion and tension between some demonstrators and the owners or employees of the Hotel Axel, a luxury gay hotel, resulting in some damage to the reception. A couple of flowerpots were also broken along the route.
After the demonstration broke up, some demonstrators remained in Plaza Universidad. Some men appeared who without revealing themselves to be police from the PolicÃa Nacional, started to attack and aggressively arrest those still present. At no point did they identify themselves as police. Passers-by who saw how people were being attacked and pushed to the floor came closer to try and stop the aggressions, and were themselves attacked. There were nine arrests in all, all totally arbitrary, including one person who hadn’t been either on the demonstration or to Queeruption (although a member of the PolicÃa Nacional apparently claims to have seen her on the demo attacking rubbish bins and painting graffiti.)
When they arrived at the police station, the police began to humiliate them, taking several of them to a room one by one where they stripped them naked and came out with a range of homophobic insults such as "I’m going to stick my truncheon up your arse, you fucking poof", "you’re not a real man, you worthless fag", “Eres más basta que una lija" -"lit. ..you’re rougher than sandpaper.. insulting a woman for not being sufficiently feminine. The others, meanwhile, had to sit on a bench in the room next door from where they could hear the screams of the person who was in the room with the police.
There were physical aggressions against all those arrested, for example: "he hit one person’s head so hard with his hand that it bounced off the head of the person sitting next to him, and then kicked the same person in the chest with his boots, provoking a nervous shock which caused him to shake and have difficulty breathing. We asked to see a doctor but the cops laughed and didn’t even give him a glass of water". This last case has been taken up by Amnesty International, which is the first time that they have investigated the homophobic violence of the PolicÃa Nacional.
Amongst those arrested were people who spoke neither Catalan nor Spanish, and the police refused to allow access to interpreters who would have been able to facilitate an understanding of what was going on.
Two days later, after appearing before a judge, the nine people were released conditionally to await trial, charged with public disorder, criminal damage and resisting authority. The prosecutors are requesting a prison sentence of two and a half years plus 11,400 euros fine for one of the defendants, who is also charged with injuring a cop. The others are facing sentences of up to one and a half years, and fines of between 5,700 and 11,000 euros. The case is only based on the declarations the cops made up. Obviously that’s not such convincing evidence, since the arrests themselves were completely arbitrary, to the point that one of the people arrested just happened to have been in the area at the time.
Five of the nine people arrested filed a case against the PolicÃa Nacional because of the tortures and mistreatment they received in the police station. The judge in question decided twice not to investigate the case, and so it was sent to the Audiencia Provincial (a higher court). However the police officers who the allegations had been made about failed to turn up at the hearing to make a declaration, and once again the judge decided not to proceed with the process.
While the police have managed to avoid any comeback for the crimes of mistreatment and torture which they committed, we are currently awaiting a trial which in the worst case could involve people being sent to prison and fines which between the nine people could add up to 80,000 euros.
Of course this is the worst case and it may well not come to that. The trial has not taken place and until it does we don’t know if anybody will be found guilty, and if they are, the severity of the sentence. However, given the seriousness of the charges, we want to be prepared for if it all goes wrong. We could really do with any sort of financial or political support, we have started already to build up reserves of money before the trial.
Any donations are more than welcome, and can be sent to the bank details below. If in the end everything goes in our favour and we don’t need the money you send, either you can tell us where you would like it to go - (we could return it to you for example), or we’ll give it to queer groups, or to other anti-repression groups.
Thanks in advance for your help, and all the support received so far.
[email protected] Ågla caixa†iban - ES1421000704100100563723 swift - caixesbbxxx.
Please contact us if you have any ideas to contribute to future benefits and other related causes:
[email protected]
NEW WEBSITE:
www.behindbarsbroadcast.org