Barcelona was raided. Five anarchists were taken in what appears to be part of a new
governent plan to repress the libertarian movements in Spain. There are reports that the
five were targetted by the police because they were seen responsible for content on a
Facebook page that the government obviously did not like. They will stand before court on
Friday. --- The libertarian space Ateneu Llibertarii is owned by the CNT-AIT, and the
Sabadell union has its seat there. It is a also meeting place for other anarchists and
also for assemblies of 15M. The raid was ordered by the National High Court and made
without a warrant. The 5 people reportedly arrested were supposedly from the group Bandera
Negra, although some activists from the area and the Madrid Group of Bandera Negra say
the situation is not clear.
Bandera Negra could not confirm this information and the so-called "Bandera
Negra Collective" may be a virtual group on Facebook, not related to
Bandera Negra of Madrid. Those reportedly arrested were charged with
"praising terrorism".
The police allege that they were plotting terrorist activities. These
allegations are seen in the context of a recent anarchist scare in the
media, where there were reports of "dangerous anarchists visiting"
and rather far-fetched conspiracy theories, obviously given to the
media by the police.
In addition to Sabadell, Catalonian regional police are launching
raids at the request of the Audiencia Nacional in other towns in
Catalonia and there are rumors that a national action against
anarchists will start around Spain.
It is clear that these are new attempts by authorities to criminalize
social movements, especially in light of increasingly bad social
condition and corruption scandals of the government.
Anarchists around Spain are responding to the repression. Updates
can be found here:
https://www.facebook.com/ateneu.ateneullibertarisabadell
