Paris protest climbers denounce murderous police intervention

I mentioned a few days ago that a group of Basque climbers made a protest action in Paris, hanging two banners in French and English from the landmark monument with the message: "PSOE-UMP what have you done with Jon Anza?"

PSOE and UMP are the acronyms of the ruling parties in Spain and France respectively. Jon Anza was an ETA militant who mysteriously disappeared a year ago in Toulouse only to reappear last month in the most obscure circumstances at the morgue of a local hospital, where his corpse had been all this time, in what seems to be another case of dirty war that splatters not only Spain but also in full the French government and legal system.

Yesterday the four climbers made a press conference at Baiona (Bayonne) to denounce the murderous attitude of the French police that almost killed one of the climbers.

They had designed the hanging system of the banners and the climbers in a way that made it difficult for the authorities to disentangle it without causing the fall of the climbers. This was done in order to ensure that the banners stayed for as long as possible.

As they explained in the conference, they had designed it so climbers acted as counterweight and that if any single climber was untied, the other would fall. This they expected to force the use of two cranes, which would significantly delay the removal of the banners. Naturally they explained this to the firefighters and police who arrived.

Soon one policeman was on top of the firefighters' crane and asked to one of the climbers: "are you going to collaborate?" to what the reply was "yes", explaining him the system used to install the banner and that if he untied either one, the other would fall. The policeman replied that he already knew that.

Regardless, he was untied and spoused, what caused the fall of the other climber. This other climber tried to save his own life by grabbing a repairs structure at the side of the monument but failed to hold. Miraculously, he managed to land on his feet, what saved his life in spite of the serious injuries (both ankles broken and head concussion).

"It was a miracle I did not die", he said.

Askatasuna (Freedom, prisoner rights watch organization, declared illegal in Spain) has therefore put a denounce against the police demanding responsabilities and have declared that they will keep on with their protests.

Source: Gara.