“I couldn’t get in today even though I have all the right badges,” Emily Rideout tells me. “It’s total BS.”
She confirms reports that NGO workers have been mostly shut out of today’s negotiations and plenaries in Copenhagen. UN climate chief Yvo de Boer is claiming responsibility for booking more than 46,000 people into the Bella Centre, which holds a mere 15,000 people at a time.
Today, with heads of state finally arriving, more than 85 percent of NGO workers got the boot. That means a lot of the information coming out of the conference will stop flowing, especially information about poorer countries with smaller delegations and more limited access to the mainstream media. It’s a situation that could elicit Stephen Harper’s least wooden smile since he entered politics.
About 3,000 of the shut out NGO workers took to the streets in a mass demonstration, and attempted to storm the Bella Centre. They were beaten back and tear gassed by police. Two-hundred-and-fifty people were arrested.
Rideout was one of the demonstrators, and she took these videos this morning; it’s a confusing scene but it gives a sense of the tension and the overwhelming presence of both police and media:
Adopt A Negotiator also posted this video showing police crackdown on protesters.:
Back inside the Bella Centre another 50 NGO workers held a spontaneous sit-in in solidarity with those who couldn’t get in.
This article appears in Dec 10-16, 2009.
Last time I saw such a crowd was at a Milwall v West Ham soccer match or maybe it was the Celtic v Rangers rumble at Parkhead followed by a nice fight on Buchanan Street.
Ugh, old firm matches: scary.
Yes Andy, all noise and piss mixed in with a few knives and a few pints of blood.
They have real policemen in Glasgow, 6ft tall and 5ft wide.
Proud to have survived the Ibrox derby some years ago, don’t have a clue what the result was.
I’d love to see a Celtic v Milwall double header, certainly a case of ‘Never mind the ball, get on with the game’
Me: I’m a Partick Thistle Supporter. But I am taking this way off topic. The videos are amazing. I like that the police say “In the name of the Queen, this demonstration is to be disbanded.” I think they should say that at demos here in Canada. Except, I don’t like to see demos disbanded. Unless it was pro-new country music or something.
How the fuck are 15,000 delegates (let alone 45,000) supposed to accomplish anything. This reminds me of Princess Amidala addressing the Galactic Senate.
What a waste of an effort.
Andy, over at the National Post , columnist John Ivison is a Queen of the South supporter, a fact I gleaned from one of his columns. He took his kid to the Cup Final, a tribute to the lifelong support of his deceased father.
I watched all 3 demo videos, which I found really amusing, especially the chant ‘The whole world is watching’ which conjured up images of 1.3 billion Chinese watching TV and wondering where the tanks were. Or a bunch of Bedouins flipping channels and seeing cold people complaining about warm weather.