S27: Summary Of Prague Protest Actions…

From…. http://prague.indymedia.org/

UPDATE S27: 20:31 The are confirmed reports of extreme brutality inside the jails. People have been gased inside the prisions, beaten, tied, and sexually harrased. People "looking" like protestors have been randomly targeted on the streets. The Ministry has cut relations off with OPH- the legal observers. At this moment there is a large party gathering in the Old Town Square.

UPDATE S27: 20:01 400 nonviolent protestors are occuping the Charles Bridge. Police are apperantly closing in from both sides. The demonstrators from Old Town Square have moved to the bridge.

UPDATE S27: 19:38 Police are surrounding 10 Polish activists at Namisti Republiky.

UPDATE S27: 19:33 Gatherings are happening at Old Town Square. About 200 people are demonstrating and hundreds of cops are in the area.

UPDATE S27: 18:55 Festive gatherings have been called for this evening at the Charles bridge- Karlov Most.

UPDATE S27: 18:05 We have a confirmed report that the IMF meetings for tomorrow have been cancelled. The word from the IMF is that they are closing early and that their meetings had finished anyway.

UPDATE S27: 16:25 We have had a report that President Havel was spotted in the Muzeum metro area and now headed toward the Namisti Miru area.

UPDATE S27: 15:01 Reports coming in from Namisti Miru indicate that medics are being targeted by the police. We have had a report that the medics are being removed from the area and arrested.

UPDATE S27: 14:47 We have received a report from 7 people just released from jail that they had been tied up for more than twenty hours and beaten while in jail.

UPDATE S27: 14:19 The march to the jail continues to be blockaded by police. The march is reported to be 1000 people. Police are refusing to allow people to disperse without showing their papers. Demonstrators are meeting to decide how to handle the situation. They have initally refused to be identified.

UPDATE S27: 14:19 Demonstrators on buses who are apparently being deported are reporting that the police have been beating them while they are trapped inside the busses.

UPDATE S27: 14:01 500 people are marching north west of Namisti Miru. The are currently contained by the police. The aim of the march is to monitor the conditions of the prisoners denied access to lawyers and phones. The marchers are negotating to disperse on the conditions that they can send four observers into the jail and that they can leave without showing identification.

UPDATE S27: 13:47 The convergence center is being given till 0:00 tomorrow to be cleaned out. There is a desperate rush to pack supplies up.

UPDATE S27: 13:39 We have reports from a jail from a cell phone which was snuck in. Men and women have been seperated. The men are appreantly not being mistreated. The group of women are apparently being beaten and sexually harrassed.

UPDATE S27: 13:29 The reports of press being removed from Namisti Miru are appear to be incorrect. We have had first hand accounts that there are large numbers of press with the demonstrators.

UPDATE S27: 13:14 The demonstrators from Namisti Miru were allowed to leave the square and as they were marching out, the were caught between two flanks of police full armed with chemical weapons. Press are being keept away from the area.

UPDATE S27: 12:41 Jugoslavska has been closed off near the PGA offices. More than 100 police are on site, and vans are moving into the area.

UPDATE S27: 12:41 The people gathering at Namisiti Miru are being blockaded in by the police. Press are being denied access and removed from the square. We have reports that the convergence center has been totally evicted.

UPDATE S27: 12:15 Demonstrators at Namisti Miru are planning on marching toward the jails where people are still being held. We still have had no reports of people being able to use phones in jail.

UPDATE 19:42 Demonstrators have apparently left the convention center along with delegates.

UPDATE 19:39 Delegates are going to the Opera Square where a big party is waiting for them but three thousands protesters are already in the square and many more are joining and road blocks have been set up to stop the police entering the square. Thousands have gathered in the square.

UPDATE from Tel-Aviv Reports of a completely successful shutdown of down-town Tel-Aviv are coming in. Demonstrators totally took over a square and held a moment of silence in solidarity with actions in Praha.

UPDATE 18:43 Reports of mass arrests have begun.

UPDATE 18:43 The "blue" section is growing in number. They tried to block the underground railtrack - used by delegates to leave the Center - but police managed to stop them. Meanwhile the white overalls are back in the square where the demo started this morning.

UPDATE 18:17 Police heavily charged sections pink and blue that managed to enter the Congress Center area making nearly contact with the IMF delegates. Police stood idly for a while when only a stairway separated protesters from delegates on a balcony. Then riot police, previously deployed on the bridge, charged the protesters. We don't know of any injured but people were beaten badly. Our reporter had to interrupt the phone call because attacked by police.

UPDATE 18:01 Confirmed reports over cell phone to IMC Radio that the police line has been breached and that part of the conference center has been occupied. see article

UPDATE 17:52: News from the "pink" section (mainly Germans, Spanish, French and Americans). They reached the Congress Centre from behind. It seems the Centre is surrounded. Meanwhile at one of the bridge entrance hundreds of Greek activists joined the Turkish bloc to confront the police. A miracle in Prague: Greeks and Turkish together.

UPDATE 17:30: People are being brutally clubed outside the convention center by police. Unconfirmed reports suggest protesters may have gotten inside both the convention center and a nearby hotel.

UPDATE 17:19: Reports continue to indicate that demonstrators are within meters of the convention center.

UPDATE 17:14: Cars are being overturned and used as barricades. Cops retreating. Dogs have been released. The demonstrators are moving on the East side of the convention center.

UPDATE 17:10: Demonstrators have broken through police lines around the convention center. More than 500 are directly outside the convention center.

UPDATE 16:30: All metros have been closed in Praha.

UPDATE 16:06: The valley on the North side is still very tense. Police a trying to force demonstrators back out of the valley.

UPDATE 15:27: News from South blockade: water cannons and tear gas have attempted to break the barricade. A tank also tried to breach the blockade. The blockade is still holding though has retreated 100m. Police have tried to force the blockade apart, but the situation seems to be cooling off. No injuries reported.

UPDATE 15:27: Reports that the North bridge blockade is spliting up are coming across the wire. One group is going North to the city, the other maybe trying to join the other marches.

UPDATE 14:41: Reports of large clashes with police continue from around the city.

UPDATE 14:00: BBC is reporting that some police were set on fire due to molotov cocktails.

UPDATE 13:45: Ya Basta is pusing hard against police lines on the bridge to the convention center.

UPDATE 13:20: Reports of massive police violence from under the bridge to the convention center. Gas, spray, water cannons and other weapons are being used against the people marching toward the convention center from the valley. Many people have recived head injuries. One witness reports hundreds of tear gas rounds being fired.

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