A. Fernández. Barcelona 02/20/2021
Demonstration in Barcelona against the imprisonment of Pablo Hasél. (EFE)
Catalonia enters a critical phase: the radicals call to attack the Mossos even when they return to their homes
A manual has been disseminated among some elite sectors of the Catalan pro-independence platforms explaining the advisability of raiding police stations or barracks
The tactics of the New Black International have definitely settled in Catalonia. This international has nothing to do with the Black International that grouped together the European fascist movements (which included names like Stefano Delle Chiae, Pier Luigi Contutelli or Vicenzo Vincuguerra) during the 70s and 80s of the last century: now it is this what they call the anarchist movements that began to organize internationally after the revolts in Greece. As an organization, it was formalized in 2012 from the agreement of several international organizations. On that date, they created Ediciones Internacional Negra, one of the current reference publishers of the protest movements.
The Hellenic group Conspiracy of Cells of Fire (founded in 2007, which became a terrorist organization, planting bombs all over Greece or sending letter bombs to European politicians as part of what it called the ‘Nemesis plan’) produced a 96-page manual of urban guerrillas and terrorism through this channel that details how to take to the streets and how to organize demonstrations to sow chaos. This manual, to which El Confidencial has had access, has been disseminated among some elitist sectors of the Catalan pro-independence platforms and explains the importance of applying terror for terror and the convenience of assaulting police stations or police barracks. Most of those tactics are being followed point by point by rioters who these days make some streets of the main cities a living hell. “The bank fires, the fires set in the police stations and patrol cars, the attacks against riot riot control units, the actions with bombs, the sabotage and the destruction have never disappeared from the street reality, showing that whoever wants to can also act”, alert the manual.
The document details how to “mount small and flexible shock groups” and emphasizes that “the more violent we become in the face of our enemies, the stronger we will become as their internal and conscious enemy”. The manual is lavish in guerrilla tactics, in how to form shock groups and praises that “the stone thrown in the face of a tree is and will continue to be a beautiful act of rebel violence”. And it specifies that during the marches, when there are attacks on banks, one of the activists must always be in charge of making a justifying graffiti next to a destroyed target.
In addition, slogans have begun to run on social networks to attack law enforcement officers as a priority objective. “We told you, we are going to get you”, warn anonymous activists through the networks, in messages that quickly become viral. The Comités de Defensa de la República (CDR) of central Catalonia go further and this week they challenged the Mossos d’Esquadra. “We meet again in the streets, psychopaths in uniform. Whoever sows misery gathers rage!! Be aware, Miquel Sàmper, that we will not stop until the dissolution of Brimo”, threatened the committees this Wednesday. Sàmper is the Councilor for the Interior of the Generalitat and Brimo is the anti-riot division.
Death threats
One of the activists, Marc, encouraged on one of the platforms that after 3 years, “instead of going like chumps to receive blows from the repressive Police, you have to change the chip and go beat the ‘gossos’ [mossos, but when changing the initial the translation is ‘dogs’] repressors”. The activist called for the use of “iron petanque balls and metal clubs” to attack law enforcement officials. “And ardent cocktails. It is time for the Mossos to be scalded”, he concluded. Another activist, Adrià, pointed out that “the time has come to ambush the ‘gossos'”. He alluded to the fact that it was necessary to be equipped “with everything said” to attend he rallies and that the concentrations had to be held “in different parts of the city and to carry out very forceful and demanding actions. We want to have the freedom and independence of Catalonia again!”.
This Saturday afternoon, the slogans increased. The most radicals warmed up the atmosphere from noon, launching slogans to apply “much more forceful than the previous 4 [days]”. “The ‘gossos’ (the dogs referring to police) must be overcome and subdued for the first time”, warned another message. And a third reiterated: “The ‘gossos’ already show fatigue after 4 days and today they have to be overcome”. A new communication channel was also formalized to plan actions and make calls through the networks. “We have everything prepared and planned. Only you are missing! Activate the notifications”, warned a supposed organizing dome of the riots.
Death threats follow one another on activist platforms, unleashing the idea that any ‘police hunt’ is welcome and beneficial. For his part, the activist J. G. R., who calls himself Jou in the networks, called this Friday not to attack the police, but to kill them right away “and that with the remains left they cannot even do DNA tests”. This activist, with a certain predicament in some of the most violent sectors, added that the convenient thing would be to wait for the police to finish their service and attack them when they are alone and go home dressed in civilian clothes. In addition, he urged to attack the headquarters of non-independence parties, in an escalation of verbal violence directed at an exacerbated, unthinking and supremacist pro-independence movement.
In addition to the assault on several police stations, at the Mossos headquarters in Vilafranca del Penedès, for example, many kilos of firecrackers were thrown on Friday night. “A lot of pyrotechnics were thrown and that is very expensive. The kids who demonstrated are sure they have not put a single euro to buy it. Who will have put the money?” says a source from Mossos to El Confidencial.
All the police unions of the Mossos sent a letter to regional minister of Interior, Miquel Sàmper, in which they request, given the situation and the criticism made towards the Mossos, an “emergency meeting to put an immediate solution to this situation”. They add that they make themselves available “to do it even, if possible, this weekend”. And they assure: “The spirits within our group are very tense and we, the trade union organizations that represent the whole squad and that, in short, are the ones that always ensure social peace within the squads, we are already at the acceptable limit of being able to guarantee this peace”.
Striking police stations and other tactics
The concern of the agents is not gratuitous. In reality, the Mossos have a lot of reasons to worry. The aforementioned manual explains how to control street violence and ensures that one of its main objectives is to “instruct” the “young companions” in the tactics of surprise attacks, the “throwing of Molotov cocktails, the ‘hit and run’, in ready escapes, in how to deal with tear gas, in coordinating a plan, in the effective destruction of targets (for example, banks) and most essential: they can experience that unique emotion of being next to each other with a solidarity that conquers fear”.
The International Black text highlights that in the event of clashes with riot police in the city center, “security voids” are created in the rest of the metropolitan countryside. And there “arises a favorable opportunity for the guerrilla comrades: to appear by surprise and unexpectedly at a previously chosen peripheral point and hit the target they had located. A target such as police facilities, shopping center complex, etc., which under normal conditions would be difficult or even inaccessible to attack (given the permanent police presence or patrols)”. It warns that, for these cases, “it is important that the possible objectives and their corresponding areas have been mapped, they have inspected the surroundings and eventual meeting points, have found the escape routes and have talked to each other in a conspiratorial way about the action planned”.
The manual gives examples to follow, such as the actions of the urban guerrilla group Conscience Gangs “that had carried out incursion attacks, frequently against the police stations (of Egaleo, Perama and the Police Economic Services Building located in Nea Philadelphia), but also the burning of two Metro wagons and a shopping center”. It also details the need to carry out diversionary maneuvers: while a pitched battle is taking place in the center of the city, “at the same time, a group of 15-20 determined comrades hit a less guarded [area], given the circumstances, police station in the peripheral area and set it on fire. These two moves are not antagonistic to each other, but to the contrary”.
The Black International warns that activists must be very careful with “careless chatter in cafeterias and cell phone calls”. It criticizes “the supposed postures, the conceited and haughty air, the ostentatious gestures, the arrogant talks and the dangerous chatter on the phone”. And it underlines: “Let’s not forget that it was just that cheap contribution to the gossip activism and the hinted at what helped the police to continue and then beat the comrades and the guerrilla groups, leading to arrests and imprisonments”. The anarchist substratum of the proposals is fully demonstrated in a devastating passage from the manual: “In the war against power, there are no rules or the ‘honor of arms’. We can use anything that does not belong to the logic of power and direct it against that same power (…) Our violence is expressed with all its force in an attack, telling a police station, in a robbery, in a fire, in an action with bombs … For these acts of war, not for a moment did we feel the need to justify ourselves or apologize to someone (…). Our violence is always available, whenever we need it. We do not take it with us to our social encounters or to our personal relationships”.
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