Alternative Title: Bush - Go Woef Yourself
[sign worn by a dog at the protest]
Over the weekend, I was invited to join the protest groups in Brussels as part of a group to bring attention to BushCo's attack on Social Security. The Social Security protest took place on Tuesday, February 22.
Topics of this diary (my first):
- What brought me to this event.
- My concerns prior to the protest.
- My observations at the protest.
- Molotov cocktail, water cannons, freezing temperatures
The Social Security protest group was coordinated/organized by
Our Future, a group that has organized Social Security protests at each of Bush's stops on his tour to sell his Social Security plan in the U.S. Our Future recruited a particular group in Belgium to populate the protest. The Belgian group then invited a similar group based in the Netherlands.
My girlfriend and I traveled by train to Brussels for the day and met up with the other Social Security protesters. I decided that I needed to do a little reading on Social Security before the event, so found a few articles that I found very informative and I recommend them to anyone interested in argument points.
We met near the protest area, which on Tuesday was located near the EU Institutions - earlier protests were located near the US embassy. There were not too many of us there, maybe ten in all. Some had lived in Europe for a few years, while others had lived here for over twenty years. Simple signs were dispersed and we set out for the protest area.
One concern that several of us had, especially after arriving at the protest area, was our relatively small-scale issue amidst all the other organized protest groups. According to Expatica, 88 groups were protesting outside the US embassy on Monday and then relocated to the EU zone on Tuesday. Nearly every group was protesting Bush's presence in Belgium, but also focusing on the war in Iraq, bombings, human rights abuses, oil, corporate greed, and the environment. Amidst about 4,000 protesters, we stood there with out little Social Security signs and feeling a bit nervous.
But even with all these diverse groups in a very compact space, the cooperation and interest between groups was fascinating. Several Belgians from different groups approached us to either thank us for being there or to ask for details on our topic. Needless to say, US Social Security is not a big topic in Europe. One Belgian man wanted to know if he understood our signs correctly - did Bush really want to privatize Social Security? We explained the basics of the Bush plan and this Belgian was incredulous. He asked if we had any extra signs, took one, and joined our cause and voice.
One member of our group was interviewed by a local television station regarding our topic and gave her several minutes to make her argument. I don' t know what station it was, however.
After two days of reportedly peaceful protests, the event on Tuesday got a bit rowdy. At first, what appeared to be paper balls were thrown from the crowd towards the police line. Unfortunately, the projectiles were then upgraded to partially full beer cans and occasional empty wine bottle. Then somebody threw a molotov cocktail (petrol bomb). There are a few significant photos here. The police brought in one of their riot trucks (sorry that I don't know what these are officially called) that was outfitted with dual water cannons and put out the blaze. Some news reports have said that the police used the water cannon to disperse the crowd, but I was about 50 feet away from that area and I don't think any protesters were hit by the water cannon. Reuters initially reported that tear gas was used, but later corrected that report. CNN International is still reporting the use of tear gas, though.
The police evidently had had enough and started moving against the protesters, not just trying to separate the mass into smaller groups, but also funneling us into a smaller area. There were a few violent confrontations and I witnessed at least one police officer use their club against a protester on the ground in a defensive position. Several photographers jumped in to document that event along with several protesters trying to get the police officer to stop.
After corralling us into a small area, there were only about 500 protesters remaining. The others had been able to get out of the area before the police force had encircled the area. They kept us there for about two hours until releasing us individually after a simple frisking and bag search.
I am not sure if there is an important point to this diary, I just thought that it would be interesting to document. Here are some additional photos that I took from the event.
Update [2005-2-24 9:21:56 by Daily Joe]: I have emailed CNN.com to let them know that Reuters has corrected their initial story about the use of tear gas.