photo of reclaim power action, credits : Yvonne Su

We set off before sunrise this morning, all bundled and buddied up, to get to Tarnby station where activists participating in Reclaim Power‘s blue block and yellow block (yellow being the colour of the accreditation badges for non-governmental delegates) were meeting before marching to the Bella Centre. Waiting at the station, we wrote the legal aid number on our arms and tried to keep warm.

And the marching began. Linking arms, a few of us from the CYD walked with other climate justice activists for a few kilometers, surrounded by police in the big gear and politi trucks. We got to the Bella Centre, and it began. The group got tighter, police pushed their way through, at which point an impressive contingent of the activists stepped back, climbed onto posts and whatnot and whipped out cameras and video recording devices. Thus all the footage. (et il va en mouiller plus tard aujourd’hui, check out this site for updates)

Clouds of tear gas, packs of terror dogs, and politi truck after politi truck split the crowd, put up police lines, and beat peaceful youth protesters down.

All the while, delegates from inside the conference centre tried to make their way out to meet the activists outside. They were stopped and beaten.

The activist contingent that hadn’t dispersed or been detained was being pushed back, surrounded by police, when we left the Bella Centre hours after the initial confrontation. It’s a really cold day in Copenhagen, so we’re trying to stay up to speed on what’s happening to those activists. There was hot tea being served earlier but we don’t know who’s still there. 

A huge shout out to Maude Barlow who was there with us. She gave us the best hugs, and shared the kindest words, merci énormément.