Protests during the EU summit in Gothenburg 2001

The protests during the EU summit in Gothenburg 2001, parts of which are often called the Gothenburg Riots (Göteborgskravallerna in Swedish

Swedish language

Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...

), took place in the Swedish

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

city of Gothenburg

Gothenburg

Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...

during the three days of the EU

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

summit (the European Council

European Council

The European Council is an institution of the European Union. It comprises the heads of state or government of the EU member states, along with the President of the European Commission and the President of the European Council, currently Herman Van Rompuy...

) and EU–US Summit, June 14–16, 2001. The EU Summit focused upon EU enlargement

Enlargement of the European Union

The Enlargement of the European Union is the process of expanding the European Union through the accession of new member states. This process began with the Inner Six, who founded the European Coal and Steel Community in 1952...

, sustainable development

Sustainable development

Sustainable development is a pattern of resource use, that aims to meet human needs while preserving the environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but also for generations to come...

, economic growth

Economic growth

In economics, economic growth is defined as the increasing capacity of the economy to satisfy the wants of goods and services of the members of society. Economic growth is enabled by increases in productivity, which lowers the inputs for a given amount of output. Lowered costs increase demand...

and structural reform issues. The EU–US summit included a visit by U.S. president

President of the United States

The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

George W. Bush

George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

on June 14. It was the first U.S. presidential visit to Sweden, and was intended as an opportunity to discuss differences on climate negotiations, WTO

World Trade Organization

The World Trade Organization is an organization that intends to supervise and liberalize international trade. The organization officially commenced on January 1, 1995 under the Marrakech Agreement, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade , which commenced in 1948...

and Middle East

Middle East

The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

issues with the EU leaders.

Introduction

The main protests were organised by three broad coalitions, a local coalition Bush Go home that opposed U.S. foreign policy

Foreign relations of the United States

The United States has formal diplomatic relations with most nations. The United States federal statutes relating to foreign relations can be found in Title 22 of the United States Code.-Pacific:-Americas:-Caribbean:...

, a Sweden-based coalition Network Gothenburg 2001 which opposed Swedish membership in the EU and EMU

Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union

The Economic and Monetary Union is an umbrella term for the group of policies aimed at converging the economies of members of the European Union in three stages so as to allow them to adopt a single currency, the euro. As such, it is largely synonymous with the eurozone.All member states of the...

and an international coalition Gothenburg Action 2001, a proponent of "another Europe", opponent of EU militarisation, the Schengen Agreement

Schengen Agreement

The Schengen Agreement is a treaty signed on 14 June 1985 near the town of Schengen in Luxembourg, between five of the ten member states of the European Economic Community. It was supplemented by the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement 5 years later...

, and defending the public sector and the environment from becoming trade commodites and EMU. There was also a broad Iranian and a smaller Anti-capitalist

Anti-capitalism

Anti-capitalism describes a wide variety of movements, ideas, and attitudes which oppose capitalism. Anti-capitalists, in the strict sense of the word, are those who wish to completely replace capitalism with another system....

coalition as well as non-violent

Nonviolence

Nonviolence has two meanings. It can refer, first, to a general philosophy of abstention from violence because of moral or religious principle It can refer to the behaviour of people using nonviolent action Nonviolence has two (closely related) meanings. (1) It can refer, first, to a general...

networks and Reclaim the Streets

Reclaim the Streets

Reclaim The Streets is a collective with a shared ideal of community ownership of public spaces. Participants characterize the collective as a resistance movement opposed to the dominance of corporate forces in globalization, and to the car as the dominant mode of transport.-Protests:Reclaim The...

organising demonstrations

Demonstration (people)

A demonstration or street protest is action by a mass group or collection of groups of people in favor of a political or other cause; it normally consists of walking in a mass march formation and either beginning with or meeting at a designated endpoint, or rally, to hear speakers.Actions such as...

and a street party

Street party

A street party can mean any type of social event taking place on a road.In Britain, these have historically been held to commemorate momentous events, such as VE Day or the Queen's Silver Jubilee, with "bunting, trestle tables covered with sandwiches and cakes, and children playing in the street"...

.

According to the police, more than 50,000 demonstrators gathered in Gothenburg during the three days of the summit, among them a smaller amount with foreign nationality. The demonstrating organisations arranged many conferences, the biggest conference (besides, of course, the EU summit itself) being Fritt forum (Free Forum) which hosted 50 lectures and seminars and was funded by the city of Gothenburg, the Swedish justice department and Sweden's foreign ministry department among others. The summit was guarded by approximately 2500 police officer

Police officer

A police officer is a warranted employee of a police force...

s.

Besides a number of encounters and skirmishes there were a number of riot

Riot

A riot is a form of civil disorder characterized often by what is thought of as disorganized groups lashing out in a sudden and intense rash of violence against authority, property or people. While individuals may attempt to lead or control a riot, riots are thought to be typically chaotic and...

s. The first one occurred on June 14 after the police had surrounded and enclosed the Hvitfeldtska gymnasiet

Hvitfeldtska gymnasiet

-External links:*...

where demonstrators had been invited by the city to stay during the summit. The second and perhaps most reputed riot occurred in the morning of June 15 in conjunction with a demonstration of 2000 participants organised by the anti-capitalist organisation, and it resulted in violent clashes with the police and damage of Gothenburg's main street Kungsportsavenyn

Kungsportsavenyn

Kungsportsavenyn, commonly known as just Avenyn , is the main street of Gothenburg, Sweden, and a smaller counterpart of the Champs-Élysées. It was created in the 1860s and 1870s as a result of an international town planning competition...

. Later in the evening during the Reclaim the City demonstration, the violence reached its peak when a police unit came under attack by demonstrators throwing projectiles such as cobblestone

Cobblestone

Cobblestones are stones that were frequently used in the pavement of early streets. "Cobblestone" is derived from the very old English word "cob", which had a wide range of meanings, one of which was "rounded lump" with overtones of large size...

s. The police subsequently fired shots at the demonstrators. Three persons were injured by gunshots, one of whom was seriously injured. This was the first use of firearms against Swedish demonstrators since the Ådalen shootings

Ådalen shootings

The Ådalen shootings , was a series of events in and around the sawmill district of Ådalen, Kramfors Municipality, Ångermanland, Sweden, in May 1931...

in 1931.

On June 16, the police escalated the proactive tactic ordering interventions against all demonstrations and storming the demonstrators' convention center

Convention center

A convention center is a large building that is designed to hold a convention, where individuals and groups gather to promote and share common interests. Convention centers typically offer sufficient floor area to accommodate several thousand attendees...

at Schillerska Grammar School with an anti-terrorist

Counter-terrorism

Counter-terrorism is the practices, tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, militaries, police departments and corporations adopt to prevent or in response to terrorist threats and/or acts, both real and imputed.The tactic of terrorism is available to insurgents and governments...

squad due to reports of weapons and plans for violent demonstrations. But demonstrations guards from Gothenburg action and Attac

Association pour la Taxation des Transactions pour l'Aide aux Citoyens

The Association pour la taxation des transactions financières et pour l'action citoyenne is an activist organization originally created for promoting the establishment of a tax on foreign exchange transactions.-Background:Originally a single-issue movement demanding the...

were able to intervene against attempts by the demonstrators to provoke violent acts and riots did not occur. They were also helped by lower-rank officers.

The riots were followed by prison sentences for 64 persons convicted of criminal behavior. In total demonstrators were sent to prison for almost 50 years. As of 2006, no police officer has been convicted of wrongdoing during the summit. One officer was tried and convicted for committing perjury during a trial against a Gothenburg demonstrator.

The riots left large areas of central Gothenburg demolished due to the violent protests of the demonstrators, as well as leaving many stores looted .

Background

The summit meeting of the European Union was notable because heads of states

Head of State

A head of state is the individual that serves as the chief public representative of a monarchy, republic, federation, commonwealth or other kind of state. His or her role generally includes legitimizing the state and exercising the political powers, functions, and duties granted to the head of...

from the EU gathered in Gothenburg, and also because the American President George W. Bush

George W. Bush

visited Sweden for the first time on the day before the summit meeting. As a reaction to this, protesters from all over the world planned to gather in Gothenburg to demonstrate under different banners. The City of Gothenburg assisted the out-of-town protesters by providing living quarters in different schools around Gothenburg and a convergence center

Convergence center

A convergence center is a central place for information and meeting to serve participants during large and manifold protest or other alternative activities at summits....

, first at Hvitfeldtska gymnasiet

Hvitfeldtska gymnasiet

-External links:*...

and later moved to Schillerska Grammar School.

The political background to the protests was a conjuncture of three forces. EU-criticism and opposition to membership in the EU was stronger in Sweden than anywhere else in the union. Secondly a wave of globalization

Globalization

Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...

protests against neoliberalism

Neoliberalism

Neoliberalism is a market-driven approach to economic and social policy based on neoclassical theories of economics that emphasizes the efficiency of private enterprise, liberalized trade and relatively open markets, and therefore seeks to maximize the role of the private sector in determining the...

had gained momentum after the protests during the EU Summit in Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

1997 and the WTO meeting in Seattle 1999

WTO Ministerial Conference of 1999 protest activity

Protest activity surrounding the WTO Ministerial Conference of 1999, which was to be the launch of a new millennial round of trade negotiations, occurred on November 30, 1999 , when the World Trade Organization convened at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle, Washington,...

. Anti-war

Anti-war

An anti-war movement is a social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term can also refer to pacifism, which is the opposition to all use of military force during conflicts. Many...

and environmental concerns against the U.S. was a third factor.

The police planned and gathered their forces in anticipation of the meeting. Never before had this many heads of state met in Sweden, and thousands of police were to stand guard in Gothenburg to keep order during these three days of June 2001. The police had long prepared for disturbances and also had many different intelligence services

Intelligence agency

An intelligence agency is a governmental agency that is devoted to information gathering for purposes of national security and defence. Means of information gathering may include espionage, communication interception, cryptanalysis, cooperation with other institutions, and evaluation of public...

directed at the groups participating in the planning of demonstrations. There were differing opinions amongst the police forces involved. The security police did not want the Hvitfeldtska gymnasiet to be used as they meant it was too close to the EU Summit while the Gothenburg police insisted on having the demonstrators there. American police tactics against protesters were in use such as a psycho-tactic unit that was supposed to have a dialogue with demonstrating organisations.

The police, the local authority and the different demonstration coalitions had arranged a dialogue group where they planned and discussed the demonstrations to ensure they would be as peaceful as possible.

The events at Hvitfeldtska

The school of Hvitfeldtska Gymnasiet had been lent out by the municipality of Gothenburg to Gothenburg Action and Attac to be used as a convergence center and for housing for the out-of-town protesters. More than 650 people were living at Hvitfeldtska and some also came to the information center and to attend conferences, meetings and seminars. At the school there was also a workshop for preparing white overalls activists planning to oppose the Schengen Agreement

Schengen Agreement

by dressing up in ice hockey pads

Ice hockey equipment

In ice hockey, players use specialized equipment both to facilitate the play of the game and for protection as this is a sport where injuries are common, therefore, all players are encouraged to protect their bodies from bruises and severe fractures...

and other similar defensive material and then by non-violent means try to enter the EU Summit the following day. On the morning of June 14, the police decided to surround and close off Hvitfeldtska at 11 am. This occurred at the same time as U.S. president George W. Bush

George W. Bush

’s plane, the Air Force One

Air Force One

Air Force One is the official air traffic control call sign of any United States Air Force aircraft carrying the President of the United States. In common parlance the term refers to those Air Force aircraft whose primary mission is to transport the president; however, any U.S. Air Force aircraft...

, landed outside the city.

Hundreds of policemen surrounded the school. No one was allowed to leave or enter, and the people inside were given no information of what was going on. Journalists were not allowed to come near the area. At noon, the police chief Håkan Jaldung spoke at a press conference and declared that almost all of the people inside Hvitfeldtska were suspected of preparing different crimes. However, at this time, no criminal activity

Crime

Crime is the breach of rules or laws for which some governing authority can ultimately prescribe a conviction...

had taken place at the school according to both the security police units that had infiltrated the school and the organisations renting the school.

After a while, the police constructed a wall consisting of more than 100 containers around the school. Inside the school, and in the schoolyard, the demonstrators held meetings and discussed how best to handle the situation. Negotiations started with the police with mediators in collaboration with the psycho-tactic police unit. Around 3 pm, a few of the demonstrators were allowed to leave the school area during a period of uncertainty amongst the policemen. Approximately 100 people left the school at this point after agreeing to being searched by the police, but without promise of what they could keep with them. However, most of the people inside the school didn’t know this was happening and missed the opportunity to leave Hvitfeldtska and many stayed in solidarity with the white overalls who tried to negotiate their terms to get out. The police chief took away the mandate for the psychotactic unit and the negotiations ended in confusion. According to the police chief this was due to that the negotiations did not come to a conclusion, according to the mediator

Mediation

Mediation, as used in law, is a form of alternative dispute resolution , a way of resolving disputes between two or more parties. A third party, the mediator, assists the parties to negotiate their own settlement...

s a conclusion on the last issue of white overall material was at hand and the problems could be solved.

200 people lined up to demand their right to go to the ongoing demonstration against Bush. In total some 200 people with some 30 white overalls in the front followed by some 50 syndicalist trade unionists, a black bloc

Black bloc

A black bloc is a tactic for protests and marches, whereby individuals wear black clothing, scarves, ski masks, motorcycle helmets with padding, or other face-concealing items...

and a mixed group of pacifists and others at the rear. The attempt to get through the police cordon through white overall tactics failed when the front white overalls were severely beaten while they themselves did not hit the police. When, at half past four, the demonstrations peacefully backed in a narrow alley towards the school the police charged violently on horses, with batons and with dogs provoking a violent reaction by the use of throwing cobblestones from some demonstrators.

Some demonstrators were able to block themselves in the school. Finally, at 10 pm the battle was over and police invaded the school, detaining approximately 500 people and removing them by bus.

Outside Hvitfeldtska the closing of the convergence center and the trapping of more than 500 persons inside caused immediate reactions. In the streets nearby and in the Vasa park clashes between police and protesters occurred that turned into riots. The police charged on horses against protesters and the demonstrators used cobblestones against the police. The protests reached their climax in the evening when some 2,000 people gathered outside the container wall to show their support. No violence occurred whatsoever but having the policemen focused on the crowd, some 30 people that had been trapped inside Hvitfeldtska were able to flee across the container wall and come outside the police cordon.

Iranian Women

At noon a broad coalition of Iranian exile groups organised a demonstration at Götaplatsen

Götaplatsen

Götaplatsen is a public square in Gothenburg, Sweden, at the southern end of Kungsportsavenyn , the city's main street...

to protest against the Iran

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

ian government. It was according to the police peaceful and had 10,000 participants.

Bush not welcome

A broad coalition from the locally strong Marxist-Leninist

Marxism-Leninism

Marxism–Leninism is a communist ideology, officially based upon the theories of Marxism and Vladimir Lenin, that promotes the development and creation of a international communist society through the leadership of a vanguard party over a revolutionary socialist state that represents a dictatorship...

revolutionary party to Attac started their demonstration at 5.30 in the afternoon from the city center. The ongoing police operation at Hvitfeldtska caused severe tensions among the demonstrators. Some left to protest directly outside the school and others joined after the closing of the demonstration at Götaplatsen

Götaplatsen

Götaplatsen is a public square in Gothenburg, Sweden, at the southern end of Kungsportsavenyn , the city's main street...

. Speeches were held by Friends of the Earth U.S. against the Bush administration's climate policy and by others against U.S. imperialism

Imperialism

Imperialism, as defined by Dictionary of Human Geography, is "the creation and/or maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural, and territorial relationships, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination." The imperialism of the last 500 years,...

. The number of participants was 15,000 according to the police.

The events at Hvitfeldtska Gymnasiet on June 14, 2001 are considered to have been the start of the Gothenburg Riots, which would continue during the next day. The claims by the police that there were weapons inside the school was never confirmed as no such weapons, molotov cocktail

Molotov cocktail

The Molotov cocktail, also known as the petrol bomb, gasoline bomb, Molotov bomb, fire bottle, fire bomb, or simply Molotov, is a generic name used for a variety of improvised incendiary weapons...

s or other, were found after the police took control over the buildings.

The Anti Capitalist March

The Anti-capitalist March against the EU summit started at Götaplatsen

Götaplatsen

Götaplatsen is a public square in Gothenburg, Sweden, at the southern end of Kungsportsavenyn , the city's main street...

at 10.30 am June 15. It was organised by Justice Party - the Socialists

Justice Party - the Socialists

The Socialist Justice Party is a Trotskyist political party in Sweden. RS is the Swedish section of the Committee for a Workers' International.The forerunner organization of RS was called Arbetarförbundet Offensiv...

, International Socialists

International Socialists

International Socialists is the name of a number of Trotskyist organizations.Most organisations using this name are in the International Socialist Tendency...

and the Nonviolent Network. Approximately 2,000 people had gathered, among a minority of members of the white overalls and black bloc who cancelled their own actions after the police operation against Hvitfeldtska. The organisers did not receive a permit but had ongoing dialogue with the police and had the right according to the freedom of meeting act to demonstrate.

On their way down a street some blocks away from the EU Summit the police ordered an intervention against a group of demonstrators before violence occurred and without contacting the organisers of the demonstration. Some moments later this was carried out by policemen with dogs who attacked demonstrators and bystanders causing bloodshed from biting dogs and batons. No order to disperse was issued. Mounted police

Mounted police

Mounted police are police who patrol on horseback or camelback. They continue to serve in remote areas and in metropolitan areas where their day-to-day function may be picturesque or ceremonial, but they are also employed in crowd control because of their mobile mass and height advantage and...

surrounded the demonstration. Panic erupted. A group of black bloc demonstrators countercharged the police which had to flee. A large amount of cobblestone

Cobblestone

s were thrown at the police causing severe wounds.

The riots on Kungsportsavenyn

Some 150–200 demonstrators, 50–70 of them being active according to the police, started after 11 am vandalizing the nearby Kungsportsavenyn

Kungsportsavenyn

, the main high street of Gothenburg. Rioters were smashing windows and burning outdoor furniture. The damage was the most severe during the whole Gothenburg riots with an estimated cost of 5 million Swedish kronor (Approximately $770 000). The protesters were at first left alone by the police but then clashes between police and protesters continued. After a while some policemen also started to throw cobblestones back at the protesters.

Political and media intervention

Simultaneously a regular dialog meeting between the police, local authority

Local government

Local government refers collectively to administrative authorities over areas that are smaller than a state.The term is used to contrast with offices at nation-state level, which are referred to as the central government, national government, or federal government...

and demonstration coalitions was held at 12 o’clock. Here the social democrat

Swedish Social Democratic Party

The Swedish Social Democratic Workers' Party, , contesting elections as 'the Workers' Party – the Social Democrats' , or sometimes referred to just as 'the Social Democrats' and most commonly as Sossarna ; is the oldest and largest political party in Sweden. The party was founded in 1889...

Göran Johansson

Göran Johansson is a Swedish Social Democratic Party politician. He is currently the chairman of the Gothenburg Municipality Executive Board...

, chair of Gothenburg city council

City council

A city council or town council is the legislative body that governs a city, town, municipality or local government area.-Australia & NZ:Because of the differences in legislation between the States, the exact definition of a City Council varies...

and member of the national party board, proposed that a common statement should be made denouncing all demonstrating assailants. This was not accepted as it would state that the violence only was caused by one part. Instead the meeting unanimously denounced all violence. It was also decided to carry out the planned demonstrations as planned.

Also mass media

Mass media

Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...

started to change their position from questioning both sides to claim that it was the protesters that provoked the riots. The lead took Public Service

Public service announcement

A public service announcement or public service ad is a type of advertisement featured on television, radio, print or other media...

television SVT. In the 12 o’clock news the order of the video clippings from the start of the riots and the story was reversed. The first violence when police dog

Police dog

A police dog, often referred to as a "K-9 dog" in some areas , is a dog that is trained specifically to assist police and other law-enforcement personnel in their work...

s were biting demonstrators was shown after the first reaction on the police intervention when a person started to throw things at the police. From now on mass media was predominantly telling the story that violence was started unprovoked by protesters and the police reacted in self-defence.

The Free Forum and Viktoria bridge

The police continued to chase persons close to the city center. Finally they encircled a group of people at the Viktoria bridge and without being provoked attacked people inside the nearby Free Forum outdoor entrance area. The chair of the Green Youth

Green Youth (Sweden)

The Young Greens of Sweden is the youth wing of the Swedish Green Party . GU does not have a program of its own, and is unique among Swedish political youth organizations by following the program and policies of the mother party....

, Zaida Catalan, was beaten from behind to the ground by the police and panic started to emerge among some thousand people present. Attac was able to mediate and the police avoided further intrusion in the Free Forum area. After a while 124 persons on the bridge that peacefully was sitting down singing pacifist songs were arrested at 2 o’clock. Witnesses claimed that the people on the bridge had nothing to do with the riots. Police admitted later that they did not know if it had been 100 or only 25 out of the arrested who were suspects in the earlier riot.

No to EU

While assembling to start at 6 o’clock the No to EU demonstration organised by Network Gothenburg 2001 the Norwegian delegation was attacked by 30 right wing

Right-wing politics

In politics, Right, right-wing and rightist generally refer to support for a hierarchical society justified on the basis of an appeal to natural law or tradition. To varying degrees, the Right rejects the egalitarian objectives of left-wing politics, claiming that the imposition of equality is...

extremists armed with large pieces of metal causing bloodshed. The well-organised delegation that had secured good contacts with the police in advance called for help from the police but had to sort the situation out themselves. The rest of the demonstration went without disturbances. The number of participants was, according to the police and the organisers, 20,000.

The final was at Götaplatsen were speakers criticized EU from democratic, trade union, peace and other perspectives. Most attention did the Green European MP

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

Per Garhrton and the leader of the Left Party

Left Party (Sweden)

The Left Party is a socialist and feminist political party in Sweden, from 1967 to 1990 known as the Left Party – The Communists .On welfare issues, the party opposes privatizations...

Gudrun Schyman

Gudrun Schyman is a Swedish politician. She served as leader of the Swedish Left Party from 1993 until January 2003. She remained a member of the Left Party until 2004, when she left to focus entirely on her feminist political work...

get. Gahrton criticized both police and demonstrators using violence. Schyman strongly denounced hooligans

Hooliganism

Hooliganism refers to unruly, destructive, aggressive and bullying behaviour. Such behaviour is commonly associated with sports fans. The term can also apply to general rowdy behaviour and vandalism, often under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs....

that had destroyed Avenyn in front of her earlier that day and did not mention the role of the police.

The shootings at Vasaplatsen

On the evening of June 15 at 8 o’clock, a party was arranged by Reclaim the Streets

Reclaim the Streets

at Vasaplatsen

Vasaplatsen, Gothenburg

Vasaplatsen is a triangular public square in the district of Vasastaden in Gothenburg, Sweden. Since two tram lines crosses here, there are four combined tram and bus stops on the square close by each other that all go under the name Vasaplatsen...

.

Heavy rioting broke out and a smaller group of police officers were subjected to a massive attack in which one of them was struck down. While defending their colleague, the other officers fired warning-shots with their sidearms. This halted the bulk of the attack. One attacker continued to throw rocks in the direction of the fallen policeman. Two officers fired at the rioter who was critically injured. Two other people received light injuries by ricochet

Ricochet

A ricochet is a rebound, bounce or skip off a surface, particularly in the case of a projectile. The possibility of ricochet is one of the reasons for the common firearms safety rule "Never shoot at a flat, hard surface."-Variables:...

s.

A criminal investigation against the police officers was opened but later closed as it found that they had acted in defence

Self-defense (theory)

The right of self-defense is the right for civilians acting on their own behalf to engage in violence for the sake of defending one's own life or the lives of others, including the use of deadly force.- Theory :The...

of the struck down officer. When more evidence became available in the form of video recordings, the investigation was re-opened twice and both times closed again as the ruling remained the same.

Political interventions and negotiations

The night between June 15 and June 16, the situation was tense with one shot demonstrator at hospital who might not survive.

The minister of Justice

Justice Minister

A justice ministry is a ministry or other government agency charged with justice. The ministry is often headed by a minister for justice or secretary of justice or secretary for justice; sometimes the head of a department of justice is entitled attorney general.Specific duties may relate to...

Thomas Bodström

Thomas Lennart Bodström is a Swedish politician and member of the Swedish Social Democratic Party. He was the Swedish Minister for Justice in the two last succeeding governments of the Swedish Prime Minister Göran Persson, from 2000 to 2006. Since October 2006 until October 2010 he was the chairman...

, who at the beginning of the confrontations was out-of-town changed his mind. At first he had commented upon the events that it was necessary to find out more information, at midnight he, together with prime minister Göran Persson

Göran Persson

Hans Göran Persson was the Prime Minister of Sweden from 1996 to 2006 and the leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 1996 to 2007. Conceding defeat in the September 2006 general election, he announced that he would resign as party leader, and Mona Sahlin was elected to succeed him as...

, claimed that the confrontations were the result of criminals coming to Gothenburg with the only purpose of starting violence.

The ministers had already been supported by the biggest parliamentary party related to the demonstrators when Left Party leader Gudrun Schyman falsely in the television news claimed that demonstration coalitions had unanimously denounced assailants as if the violent acts of the police were not included. Later the Green party took milder positions in the same direction. The demonstrators had lost all parliamentarian support in Sweden.

During the night 600 people gathered at Schillerska Grammar School which by the municipality had been given as a new convergence center. It was decided to demand that the police chief Jaldung be dismissed. Gothenburg Action decided that it was better to carry on the plans to hold an international demonstration but propose to the police another route not going into the city that was now filled with containers. Rather than having tens of thousands of demonstrators dispersed in the city it was felt that it was more safe to gather them and demonstrate. It was also decided to give one person the right to change the order of the black bloc in the demonstration not following the preplanned structure. In the negotiations with police and local authority the police also proposed a changed route and it was decided to carry out the demonstration in the manner previously decided.

EU-critical demonstration

At 11 o’clock in the morning Gothenburg Action started the demonstration at Slottsskogen towards Järntorget. No incidents occurred until police at 12:30 charged the demonstration at Järntorget ordered by the police chief in conflict with the agreement between organisers and the police. Due to the change of order the black bloc had partly passed and demonstration guards could stop the police provocation peacefully helped by lower ranked officers who did not want to carry out orders afraid of being beaten. The demonstration continued without further incidents back again to Slottsskogen. According to the organisers there were 20,000 participants, according to the police 15,000.

The events at Järntorget

Later at 6 o’clock in the afternoon people massed at Järntorget

Järntorget

Järntorget is a common name for public squares in Swedish cities, the two most well-known being:* Järntorget * Järntorget...

square, protesting police brutality

Police brutality

Police brutality is the intentional use of excessive force, usually physical, but potentially also in the form of verbal attacks and psychological intimidation, by a police officer....

. Before long the riot police

Riot control

Riot control refers to the measures used by police, military, or other security forces to control, disperse, and arrest civilians who are involved in a riot, demonstration, or protest. Law enforcement officers or soldiers have long used non-lethal weapons such as batons and whips to disperse crowds...

showed up and encircled some 500 peaceful demonstrators with 800 officers. At the time everything was calm and several citizens were walking about. The police started a siege which lasted for four hours and involved hundreds of people. Some were arrested. Finally the police chief in charge asked his superiors for information regarding under what law the operation could continue. As he received no immediate answer he dispersed the participants. When Håkan Jaldung heard of this he immediately demanded the continuity of the siege, but was too late as the people had already been released.

The events at Schillerska Grammar School

The police claimed to have information that an armed blond German terrorist

Terrorism

Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...

was located at Schillerska Grammar School were the convergence center was located. This caused the police to launch an attack on the eve of June 16, similar to that at Hvitfeldtska

Hvitfeldtska gymnasiet

-External links:*...

but now using the heavily armed anti-terrorist unit. A serious claim of police brutality is connected to this event. The police forced a hundred of young protestors to lay down of the concrete floor, or even in the schoolyard mud, for several hours. No German terrorist was found.

Media

A program from Mediemagasinet claimed that the media reported biased about the shooting. SVT

Sveriges Television

Sveriges Television AB , Sweden's Television, is a national television broadcaster based in Sweden, funded by a compulsory fee to be paid by all television owners...

's show Uppdrag Granskning later showed a couple of programs where they criticized how the police handled the situation. Swedish indie sensation Jens Lekman

Jens Lekman

Jens Martin Lekman is a Swedish musician. His music is guitar-based pop with heavy use of samples and strings, with lyrics that are often witty, romantic, and melancholic. The English lyrics reflect an advanced knowledge of the language and its idioms...

wrote an outstanding tribute to this event in his 2004 album 'When I said I wanted to be your dog' entitled 'Do you remember the riots?'

Perspectives of the Police

The officers in command of the action stated that they were very pleased with how the police had served during the summit (an opinion which at the time was shared by the government

Government of Sweden

The Government of the Kingdom of Sweden is the supreme executive authority of Sweden. It consists of the Prime Minister and cabinet ministers appointed by the Prime Minister. The Government is responsible for their actions to the Riksdag, which is the legislative assembly...

). It was claimed that the police successfully had used advance information about demonstrators and undercover police officers among the demonstrators to among other things find out about the "secret" information central.

According to the police, they acted completely in accordance with the Police Law.

The Swedish Police Union

Swedish Police Union

The Swedish Police Union is a trade union in Sweden. It has a membership of 18,500 , and is affiliated with the Swedish Confederation of Professional Employees, and EuroCOP. It also maintains contact with the Swedish branch of the International Police Association.-External links:* official site....

strongly criticised the way the police actions had been led and managed. In its report "Chaos" - regarding the Command in Gothenburg in June 2001 it is stated that a majority of the police who were on duty during the time felt they did not have enough resources to carry out their duties in a proper manner and that orders were confusing.

Statistics

Crimes reported: 3143 (as of February 2002)
Detained (gripna) for criminal actions: 554
Detained (omhändertagna) by the police (including following two listings): 575
- Detained (omhändertagna) by the police in the power of §13 of the police law (aka PL13): 387
- Detained (omhändertagna) by the police in the power of §11 of the police law (aka PL11): 188
Arrested (anhållna): 107
Detained while pending trial (häktade): 59
Number of verdicts: 38
Number of "EU-related" (i.e. related to events during the EU-summit) persons injured (treated by hospitals in the region of Västra Götaland): 143
- Police: 53
- Demonstrators: 90

The Gothenburg trials

The total sum of the sentences following the riots during the EU summit were roughly 50 years in prison, which according to the journalist Erik Wijk

Erik Wijk

Erik Wijk is a Swedish journalist and leftist writer. He has written books about the 2001 Gothenburg Riots criticizing the Swedish Police. He has also campaigned and written books against NATO's 1999 military actions against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.- References :...

is 12 times more than earlier riots. No policemen were convicted despite a large amount of complaints.

One of the most noticed cases is the so called information central, which was stormed by Nationella insatsstyrkan

Nationella insatsstyrkan

The National Task Force , formerly known as the National Task Force of the Swedish Civilian Police , is a paramilitary tactical unit within the National Criminal Investigation Department of the Swedish Police Service...

during the first day of the summit. A total of eight persons (five men, three women) were sentenced to long prison sentences after having sent out SMS

Short message service

Short Message Service is a text messaging service component of phone, web, or mobile communication systems, using standardized communications protocols that allow the exchange of short text messages between fixed line or mobile phone devices...

texts urging people to go to Hvitfeldtska gymnasiet in connection with the police shutdown of the school. The case attracted much attention among other things because the prosecutor used circular arguments: activists in other trials were accused for having contact with the criminal information central, while the people of the information central were accused of having contacts with criminals on the outside.

The responsible police boss for the EU summit Håkan Jaldung, was accused in a trial for preventing about 100 people at the Schillerska to leave the place for several hours, but he was found innocent.

Participating organizations

Göteborgsaktionen ("The Gothenburg Action," in total 87 organizations out of whom 33 were Swedish, 22 Danish, 9 Finnish, 5 Norwegian, 4 European and some other mainly from different Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...

an countries) including:

Anti-Fascistisk Aktion, an antifa network
Centernej till EU, an EU-sceptic organization from the Swedish Centre Party
Centre Party (Sweden)
The Centre Party is a centrist political party in Sweden. The party maintains close ties to rural Sweden and describes itself as "a green social liberal party". The ideology is sometimes called agrarian, but in a European context, the Centre Party can perhaps best be characterized as social...
Elevkampanjen, youth wing of Socialist Justice Party
Euromarch
Fältbiologerna
Fältbiologerna
Fältbiologerna is a Swedish organisation for youth interested in nature studies and environmental protection. The organisation has around 3000 members in the ages 7–25 all over Sweden.-External links:* ....

, a nature preservation youth organization
Globalisering underifrån, a Swedish branch of Peoples Global Action
The Green Party
Green Party (Sweden)
-External links:**...
Green Youth
Green Youth (Sweden)
The Young Greens of Sweden is the youth wing of the Swedish Green Party . GU does not have a program of its own, and is unique among Swedish political youth organizations by following the program and policies of the mother party....

, the youth organization of the Green Party
International Socialists
International Socialists
International Socialists is the name of a number of Trotskyist organizations.Most organisations using this name are in the International Socialist Tendency...

, Norway and Denmark, a Trotskyist party
Justice Party - the Socialists
Justice Party - the Socialists
The Socialist Justice Party is a Trotskyist political party in Sweden. RS is the Swedish section of the Committee for a Workers' International.The forerunner organization of RS was called Arbetarförbundet Offensiv...

, a Trotskyist party
The Left Party
Left Party (Sweden)
The Left Party is a socialist and feminist political party in Sweden, from 1967 to 1990 known as the Left Party – The Communists .On welfare issues, the party opposes privatizations...
Friends of the Earth
Friends of the Earth
Friends of the Earth International is an international network of environmental organizations in 76 countries.FOEI is assisted by a small secretariat which provides support for the network and its agreed major campaigns...

(Swedish branch)
Nei til EU ("No to the EU"), a Norwegian organization
Nätverket Ingen Människa är Illegal, an immigrants rights network
Nätverket mot rasism, an anti-racist
Anti-racism
Anti-racism includes beliefs, actions, movements, and policies adopted or developed to oppose racism. In general, anti-racism is intended to promote an egalitarian society in which people do not face discrimination on the basis of their race, however defined...

network
Central Organisation of the Workers of Sweden
Central Organisation of the Workers of Sweden
Central Organisation of the Workers of Sweden is an anarcho-syndicalist trade union federation in Sweden. Unlike other Swedish unions, SAC organizes people from all occupations, including the unemployed, students, and the retired...

, an anarcho-syndicalist trade union
Socialistiska Partiet, a Trotskyist party
Young Left
Young Left (Sweden)
Young Left is the youth organization of the Swedish Left Party.-Ideology:It is an organization that organizes the youth of today to fight for socialist and feminist social change. Young Left is a youth organization developed out of the labour movement, with influences from environmentalism, the...

, the youth organization of the Left Party
Ya Basta, a Finnish organization

Nätverket Göteborg ("The Gothenburg Network," in total more than 20 organizations) including:

Emmaus Björkå, an international solidarity organization
Folkrörelsen Nej Till EU ("The Popular Movement No to the EU")
The Green Party
Green Party (Sweden)
-External links:**...
Green Youth
Green Youth (Sweden)
The Young Greens of Sweden is the youth wing of the Swedish Green Party . GU does not have a program of its own, and is unique among Swedish political youth organizations by following the program and policies of the mother party....
The Left Party
Left Party (Sweden)
The Left Party is a socialist and feminist political party in Sweden, from 1967 to 1990 known as the Left Party – The Communists .On welfare issues, the party opposes privatizations...
The Communist Party
Communist Party (Sweden)
The Communist Party is a Marxist-Leninist political party in Sweden.1970-1977 it was known as the Communist League Marxist-Leninists and during 1977-2004 it had the name Communist Party Marxist-Leninists ...
Revolutionary Communist Youth
Revolutionary Communist Youth (Sweden)
The Revolutionary Communist Youth is the youth wing of the Swedish Communist Party. It was founded in 1994 as a successor of the Young Communist League of Sweden , which existed 1972-1978. RKU publishes a magazine called Rebell....

, the youth organization of the Communist Party
EU-sceptics from the Swedish Social Democratic Party
Swedish Social Democratic Party
The Swedish Social Democratic Workers' Party, , contesting elections as 'the Workers' Party – the Social Democrats' , or sometimes referred to just as 'the Social Democrats' and most commonly as Sossarna ; is the oldest and largest political party in Sweden. The party was founded in 1889...
Some regional clubs from SSU
Swedish Social Democratic Youth League
The Swedish Social Democratic Youth League is a branch of the Swedish social democratic party Socialdemokraterna and the Swedish Trade Union Confederation...

, the youth organization of the Social Democratic Party
Socialistiska Partiet, a Trotskyist party
Young Left
Young Left (Sweden)
Young Left is the youth organization of the Swedish Left Party.-Ideology:It is an organization that organizes the youth of today to fight for socialist and feminist social change. Young Left is a youth organization developed out of the labour movement, with influences from environmentalism, the...

Sources

A lot has been written about the Gothenburg riots in Swedish

Swedish language

. Notably:

Terrorists: The Kids They Sentenced, 2003 Documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...

by Lukas Moodysson
Lukas Moodysson
- External links :*...

about the demonstrators who were arrested
EU 2001-kommenderingen, Utvärdering 2002-03-19, Polismyndigheten i Västra Götaland http://www.polisen.se/inter/mediacache//1698/12496/21027/EU_rapporten_version_020319.pdf
Göteborg 2001, Betänkande av Göteborgskommittén, SOU 2002:122 http://www.sweden.gov.se/sb/d/136/a/3816;jsessionid=ab4U-mW4Nfb6
Göteborgskravallerna och processerna, Erik Wijk
Erik Wijk
Erik Wijk is a Swedish journalist and leftist writer. He has written books about the 2001 Gothenburg Riots criticizing the Swedish Police. He has also campaigned and written books against NATO's 1999 military actions against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.- References :...

, Manifest, 2002 ISBN 91-89291-19-0
On earlier riots: Svensk arbetarrörelse under hundra år, Ture Nerman
Ture Nerman
Ture Nerman was a Swedish socialist. As a journalist and author, he was a well-known political activist in his time. He also wrote poems and songs.Nerman was a vegetarian and a strict teetotaler...

, Tiden, 1938
Many English text links including an English summary of the official Gothenburg Committee report, analysis of the trials and other material, mainly English but also some Dutch and Swedish: http://www.steunmaarten.org/information.htm
Anders Svensson page with reports in Swedish on the events much used in the trials: http://www.zaramis.nu/goteborg/
More than 500 links to different articles on the subject, Mainly in Swedish: http://www.folkrorelser.nu/gbg2001/gbgindex.html
Official EU Summit web site: http://www.eu2001.se/static/eng/eusummit/goteborg_1.asp
Tadzio Mueller, "What's really under those cobblestones? Riots as political tools, and the case of Gothenburg 2001", Ephemera 4:2 (2004): http://www.ephemeraweb.org/journal/4-2/4-2mueller.pdf
Song by Jens Lekman
Jens Lekman
Jens Martin Lekman is a Swedish musician. His music is guitar-based pop with heavy use of samples and strings, with lyrics that are often witty, romantic, and melancholic. The English lyrics reflect an advanced knowledge of the language and its idioms...

"Do You Remember The Riots"

Introduction

Background

The events at Hvitfeldtska

Iranian Women

Bush not welcome

The Anti Capitalist March

The riots on Kungsportsavenyn

Political and media intervention

The Free Forum and Viktoria bridge

No to EU

The shootings at Vasaplatsen

Political interventions and negotiations

EU-critical demonstration

The events at Järntorget

The events at Schillerska Grammar School

Media

Perspectives of the Police

Statistics

The Gothenburg trials

Participating organizations

Sources

See also