In 2016 many of us were impressed by the scenes on the streets of France. Between March and June images of crowds attacking riot police and frequently forcing them to retreat offered encouragement for those looking to create a combative political movement. Last year (ATR 1) we were wondering how we in Greece could best respond to new police tactics which were controlling and limiting our demonstrations. Having seen the movement against the loi travail in France we can say that it is possible to push back against police encircling tactics and build some offensive spirit and momentum on street demonstrations. While the impact of these events on France is uncertain there are things what we can learn from those months of militant marches that may help us in the situation we face on the Greek streets.

The movement that contested the loi travail from its announcement in February to its final confirmation in July was multi-faceted. It involved demonstrations, strikes and blockades, occupations, assemblies and spontaneous marches. Events gradually built over time till what had started out as the usual trade union led half-hearted protest reached a peak in May and June with large scale industrial action, frequent and widespread clashes with police and constant acts of sabotage or spontaneous attacks. All of this under a constant state of emergency which has been continuously renewed since the Jihadist attacks of November 2015.

These events started simply enough. In February the Socialist government announced a reform of the labour code in favour of businesses. Initially a large number of trade unions opposed the first draft of the measures and the first strikes and demonstrations in March drew hundreds of thousands. A quick redrafting of the law led a number of trade unions to drop out of the movement, satisfied with minor concessions but a number of other unions continued on. The first people to give some combative character and energy to this movement were the high school kids and students. The strike days saw many schools blockaded and the small student demonstrations were lively. Frequently the students picked up bottles and started clashing with the police. Images and videos of the police beating up and abusing the students they captured quickly went around the media and internet. One of the first distinctive moments of the movement came in late March when a day after the police had attacked students on a demonstration a police station in Paris came under attack by another group of demonstrators.

Following another large strike demonstration on 31st March a group of leftist demonstrators headed over to Place de la Republique and set up the first of the nuit debout assemblies. Starting off with a film screening and a few people over the next days the assemblies grew into a direct democracy style temporary occupation movement. Quickly daily assemblies were set up which drew hundreds and at times a few thousand people to the square. The assemblies themselves produced little and over time dwindled but earlier on the move to Republique opened up new opportunities as this brought people out between the trade union organised demonstrations. Night time evictions and clashes with the police alternated with spontaneous marches around the city for those not so interested in the assembly discussions. A major benefit of the presence at Republique was that it gave people a point to regather after the end of demonstrations. This way a strike demonstration would be extended with potential for spontaneous marches in the evening.

Over time the large trade union marches featured more and more clashes with the police and attacks on fixed targets. As the marches in Paris always ended in one of the many large open squares these finishing points became fields for prolonged skirmishes. Momentum was building throughout April with confrontations happening at marches almost every week and other gatherings and spontaneous marches spreading. The largest demonstrations were naturally in Paris but many of the most effective and offensive were in the cities of Nantes, Rennes and Le Havre. At the end of April the calender presented an opportunity to build the momentum further. A demonstration was planned for Thursday April 28th with May 1st a few days later. There was an expectation that the police would try to clamp down on the increasingly aggressive demonstrations, and indeed they tried. However, they were taken by surprise when the crowds attacked first rather than wait for the inevitable police action. The police responded with a heavy attack on the march that lasted for some hours but despite causing many injuries and using plenty of gas they were unable to break the crowd. When they tried to surround or enter blocs they were met with a barrage of stones, bottles and fireworks. During the demonstrations of late April and early May the police tried to suppress the demonstrations but frequently found themselves being beaten back. The new found confidence and aggressiveness of different groups was shown in the middle of May when as the police held their own protest in Republique to lament the growing violence directed at them a police car was attacked and burnt just a few streets away.

Throughout May and June the police frequently kept to the edges of the large demonstrations as they switched their tactics from trying to confront the militant blocs to trying to contain them to a certain area of the city. The police surrendered the boulevards of the route to the crowd and tried to stay at a distance. By this point the demonstrations were not huge, maybe only around 20,000 in Paris, but the militant blocs of the march, cortège de tête , steadily grew to anywhere between 2-5,000. Anyone who wanted to be in the clashes with the police went to the front and joined in as they saw fit. The marches would start off in organised separate blocs but once clashes started the militant sections became very mixed with students, anarchists, individuals and even some trade unionists joining together.

This period of confidence for the people at the demonstrations converged with the most serious industrial unrest. The government had to dip into strategic reserves of fuel when strikes and blockades at refineries started to have an impact on supplies. This was the union’s major card but they played it a little too early. The strikes only lasted for a week or so and were ending by the time France began to host the Euro 2016 football tournament in June and July. The high point of the demonstrations came just after when a national march in Paris saw one of the largest crowds, over 75,000, and large spells of clashes with the police and destruction of targets. In the aftermath the police switched tactics. Unable to control the demonstrations once they got moving they set about repressing the crowds from the beginning. The next planned demonstrations were nearly banned but the unions stepped in to save the government from issuing a ban by allowing the police to take complete control over the area. To get to the start point of a march you now had to pass through at least one police check point where your bags were searched. Plain clothes police patrolled the surrounding streets and many people were arrested or detained before they even got to the demonstration points.

As the demonstrations grew in strength the police increased their arsenal. Large numbers of riot police were deployed and backed up with fences and vans to close off every street leading from demonstration routes. Water cannon, drones and helicopters all came into play and the police made increasing use of ‘sting-ball’ grenades and plastic bullets with the result that people were seriously injured and lost eyes while at least one person ended up in a coma. Preventative arrests and court orders for people to stay away from demonstrations became common. Gatherings in some areas were banned completely. There was at least one brief skirmish between demonstrators and a military patrol guarding the Invalides area. While the police never officially banned any demonstrations in Paris they set up a full security blanket that made going to demonstrations difficult with the possibility of arrest if you seemed at all suspicious. This complete control approach combined with the final passing of the loi travail effectively ended the movement in July.

Given the way that the movement ended, a formal defeat, it is difficult to say what was gained. No buildings were taken for new centres and squats as they were very difficult to hold. One positive aspect of the movement was that its existence challenged the state of emergency and anti-terror narrative. For a few months the news was dominated by scenes and news of social struggles and conflict with the police rather than reports of the latest anti-terror operation. The dominant slogan “everybody hates the police” was an antidote to the widespread praise of the police and army under the state of emergency. This shift in the atmosphere was quickly wiped out by another jihadist attack in Nice shortly after the passing of the loi travail, since then the state of emergency has been extended twice. With the French state soon to pass to the control of either the fascism of Le Pen, the extreme neoliberalism of Fillon, or the politer neoliberalism of Macron we will have to wait and see if the force that created itself at the head of the demonstrations against the loi travail will be able to return and develop further in the struggles ahead. A brief return to the streets in full force on September 15th gives some hope that the spirit of the militant blocs will be back again in the future.

For now there are some practical lessons from the movement in France that may be of use elsewhere. We have noted before (ATR 1) that one of the challenges currently facing the movement in Greece is the adoption of new tactics by the police. During the last years the Greek police have adopted methods in use in northern Europe and now seek to surround and control demonstrations by creating a wall of riot police and sealing off areas. The events in France this year show that it is possible to confront these tactics and perhaps drive the police back. Ultimately there is a limit to what marches can do and when they feel they are losing control the state can easily ban demonstrations or impose total control. Therefore long term it is better to develop new methods of confrontation beyond planned marches. Examples from France include spontaneous marches, acts of sabotage, blocking roads, metros and rail lines and random attacks on party offices and police stations.

A common feature of recent years in France and Greece is the targeting of methods of control on transport. In France there were several attempts to block means of transport, such as marching on tramlines or into railway and metro stations and sabotage of ticket machines(particularly in Rennes). The campaign for free transport in Athens has been using similar methods with some time with an intensification during the last year. This campaign has seen the involvement of a wide spectrum of groups and tactics. Hit and run actions targeting ticket selling and validation machines have caused the police considerable problems. Free transport briefly came into effect when ticket controllers were temporarily pulled off the job after their names were published online. Since the start of 2017 the installation of new barriers and electronic transport tickets in Athens has continued week by week. However, the authorities are noting with increasing concern that their efforts to introduce the new system are being undermined. The destruction of newly installed machines across the transport network seems to be gathering pace with 42 machines reported destroyed in just 16 days. Since the previous summer 127 machines have been sabotaged. The police are unable to guard the entire transport network. When the authorities moved police units to guard the metro stations, sabotage of devices on buses increased instead. Ticket barriers have been completely smashed while smaller reading devices on buses are either smashed or removed. While the installation of the new system is being challenged there are questions about the data required to get a new electronic ticket. The Athens transport company wanted people to provide a name, their parent’s name, social security number, date of birth, phone number, photo, email and home address just to obtain a ticket. Such a harvesting of data is being questioned even by the mainstream press.

An easy example of how to add to this type of campaign were the gatherings at some metro stations. A public demonstration of a few dozen people blocked the operation of ticket and validation machines for a few hours and gave a chance for people to communicate the goal of free transport directly to passers-by. In both countries campaigns around transport are currently quite important. In Athens it is expected the new electronic barriers will be up and running by spring while in Paris fines have increased and security has been intensified under the cover of counterterrorism.

A recent positive development in Greece was the organisation and planning shown in the construction and manning of the barricades of Exarcheia on the night of December 6th. Such preparation and actions are vital to increasing the movement’s capability to move beyond protest and demonstration. Still, while they will not be decisive, it is important to look for ways to improve the situation at large demonstrations in Greece.

1)Momentum

Momentum is always important. In Greece momentum and energy has largely disappeared from demonstrations. This is understandable. During 2010-12 the major demonstrations had plenty of energy and momentum. Since then we had two years, 2012-14, when this energy and belief was slowly draining away from large crowds and then two years of political confusion under a leftist government. Now, many of the larger demonstrations are demoralised and if they carry the slightest threat they are surrounded and smothered by the police. We can not expect the sudden re-emergence of large aggressive crowds. To get back to the earlier level of energy at demonstrations people will slowly have to build up confidence and abilities again.

In France momentum and confidence were built gradually over the months of the movement. Back in November/December last year demonstrations at the COP 21 were quickly controlled by the police. Before the loi travail movement got underway it was near impossible to believe that within a few months we would have frequent marches with hundreds clashing with the police and many more supporting them. At each stage of the movement people were able to push things a little further and slowly raise the confidence of crowds and the political tension. To begin with it was the students on their own finding bottles to throw. When the police beat them up they gathered the next day and attacked a police station. These scenes brought more people to the demonstrations and encouraged them to take on the police too. With more people coming to the movement new avenues of activity opened up around the spontaneous marches and assemblies. Once people came to expect a march to lead to clashes it was possible to increase the aggressiveness of the crowd until the police were finding themselves under sustained attack. The police’s attempts to crackdown physically at the marches was defeated by this increased aggressiveness of the crowd and soon the police were being seriously challenged, burnt out of their cars, and having to shield themselves behind fences.

Getting to that final point was a slow process of gradually expanding what could be done and what people expected at marches. We need a similar process of rebuilding capabilities and confidence at the large marches in Greece. A move in this direction was the quick attack on the Ianos book store at the end of an otherwise demoralised general strike demonstration on December 8th. This action against an exploitative business was carried out in the face of opposition and denunciation by members of the new leftists on the block LAE who would very much like to be the next leaders of the struggle. Starting again from a low point, small acts are needed to regain the initiative.

2)Position

The position of militant blocs in demonstrations has an impact. In Greece the long established tradition is for anarchists to be at the back of a march. In France the situation was the same but a significant change during recent events was that the militant groups took the front of the march. Being at the front gives militant groups a number of key advantages. First, it allows you to set the pace. If leftist or trade union blocs expect trouble at a demonstration they can always speed up and end things quickly. Whoever is at the front sets the pace and tone of the march. Second, it is much easier for the police to surround and isolate groups at the back of a march. In Greece the front blocs of a march frequently disappear when clashes start leaving the fighting groups alone on the street with the police. In the French marches this couldn’t happen, the police would have to fight on full streets, which limits their manoeuvrability, as the rear blocs have to stay on the street during clashes if they want to complete their demonstration. Finally, being at the front of the march gives you the advantage of being able to set yourselves up at the end point first. We have all seen in recent years that without a large stationary crowd it is very difficult to do anything but just walk through Syntagma Square at the end of a march, anarchist groups arrive last and find themselves surrounded in a wide open space by a larger crowd of riot police. The French groups arrived in their squares first and so for about an hour or so were able to skirmish with the police while more and more people were arriving from the rest of the march. Since most of these people quickly passed to the other end of the squares and went away it gave people a chance to slip out of the police cordons before becoming trapped.

If groups in Greece could do the same it would give them a chance to take the initiative away from the trade unions and leftist parties. If militant blocs led the march they would first of all have a long period of time on the street, be able to set up at the destination first, and since many shops and businesses often only put the shutters down when they see the anarchists appear, a longer presence on the streets would automatically increase the disruption caused to the city. Perhaps in Athens this would be difficult to achieve as the strike demonstrations are in reality split into a number of separate marches, any attempt to disrupt the well practised order and routine would likely be resented and contested. In other cities in Greece where the movement has a strong presence and the number of demonstrators is generally smaller it may be easier for groups to take the front of the march. Taking the front of the march can have practical benefits as well as symbolising that we no longer need to follow behind the big battalions of the trade unions and the left as they march to defeat.

3)Material

Beneath all the armour and high-grade defensive equipment the riot police are human and naturally they don’t like having a lot of bricks, rocks and bottles thrown at them. A lesson from France is that to drive back encircling riot police units, groups need to keep up a constant barrage of objects. If enough people are throwing enough objects the police will retreat from close contact. In Paris the primary practical materials were bottles (provided by the city’s extensive recycling infrastructure), rocks and bricks broken free of the ground by the use of other heavy objects(e.g metal grates around the trees) and fireworks. The advantage of these kinds of materials is that they can be found easily(in Paris at least) and used by anyone. More specialised equipment like molotovs only appeared later and were used to escalate clashes rather than start them. Generally at a march it is better to confront the police with 50 people picking up stones and bottles than with 5 people preparing and throwing molotovs. Few people will take the risk of preparing and bringing molotovs whereas when people see stones at their feet there’s a good chance they will join in. These basic objects are more effective as more people can be involved which creates a constant barrage capable of keeping the police at a distance. Once the fight has started in this way there is an opportunity for people to use different objects to escalate it.

4)Analysis and Ideas

One strength of the movement in France was its ability to analyse events as they were underway. After a march or event basic texts were published with explanations of what happened, what worked and what could be improved. A quick analysis of an event can fix any problems that occurred and helps create a learning process rather than us just repeating the same thing again and again because of a lack of ideas and ways of communicating them. In this direction a useful example appeared online after the night of December 6th, suitably enough it appears to have been written by an international.

5)Who are we?

While not a practical matter it is still interesting to think about who the people on the streets of France were. During the most dramatic of the large marches the whole crowd was often not much above 20,000, of these the proportion that made up the militant groups, cortège de tête, increased over time. By May and June this aggressive group at the front of the march was at times as many as 5,000 people all either engaged in or supporting the clashes with the police. This does not mean that 5,000 anarchists suddenly appeared. The group was made up of a whole mixture of people; anarchists, youths and students, young and old, and even some of the trade unionists drawn to the fight. At the same time other anarchists, students and unionists held back and formed the more orderly bulk of the march. There was a remarkable degree of unity in this crowd with little of the arguments and near confrontations between people who wanted different tactics. If you supported the confrontations you went to the front whichever group you belong to, if you didn’t you stayed further back. Basically the crowd that created the events in France were not one particular group or section of people but they were the break away elements of all the different groups that wanted to move forward to a confrontation and toward insurrection.

This could be a useful point to consider when thinking of future direction and strategy. We are not one particular section of society, nor representatives of any section. Instead we are a mixture of all the breakaways and runaways of society who want to try and construct a force to challenge the existing order. What drew people to the cortège de tête during those months was not its identity as a single group or organisation but the actions of the people who gathered there. Anarchists may have been some of the early instigators and their actions provided an example but it was when others gathered around them that they started to create something different.

Continuing Events in Paris: In February weeks of protests, clashes and attacks on police and state targets followed the assault and rape of a young man by police in the Parisian suburb of Aulnay-sous-Bois. Several nights of clashes followed immediately after the report of the incident and spread around the region in the following days. Moving the protests into the city of Paris itself proved difficult but not completely impossible. Any call for a protest against police brutality within Paris proper is met with a complete blockade by the police. Here they have continued the approach they developed last year of surrounding protest areas in a full cordon. This preemptive attempt to stifle protests has not always been completely successful with many people still willing to take on the police and briefly renew the offensive spirit shown last year even when trapped in a police cage. Attempts to continue and spread activities have taken various forms. When protests are blockaded by police smaller groups stage spontaneous marches either after the main gathering or in a different area. One gathering was called for inside the shopping centre of Les Halles, naturally the few hundred people were quickly blockaded but the demonstration at least disrupted one evening’s shopping. On the initiative of high school groups several schools in Paris were shut on two separate days in the last week. The students blockaded their schools and marched in the streets and confronted the police (whereas in Greece school movements frequently involve occupation of the school in France blockade and protest are common tactics).

 

The Anarcho Tourist Review Issue 2, P8-19, March 2017