March against the G7 from Hendaye, France to
Irun, Spain, August 24,
2019.
Militant opposition accompanied the 45th
G7 summit
held August 24 to 26, 2019, in Biarritz,
Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France.
Thousands of activists from different
countries, generations and
sectors participated in the mobilizations held
prior to the summit,
which culminated with a demonstration on
Saturday, August 24 against
the
Summit and one on August 25 against the
"Bunkerization of Biarritz."
The
four-kilometre march on August 24 departed
before noon from Hendaye, a
town in
the French Basque country, and ended in Irún, in
neighbouring Spain.
Flags,
banners, slogans,
music and the effigies of the
seven G7 country leaders (Germany, Canada, the
United States, France,
Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom) raised
demands for peace, harmony
with the environment, solidarity, tolerance and
inclusive development.
French riot police fired tear gas at protesters
in
Bayonne, a town eight kilometres from Biarritz,
the luxury resort where
the G7
Summit took place. The gendarmes were reported
to have used GLI F4
grenades to disperse the crowd and police also
used water cannons on
demonstrators in the planned marches. The police
were described as
having "lost all abandon" in
their assaults on the protestors, as helicopters
whirled overhead. More
than 13,000 police officers were employed to
guard
G7 leaders, turning Biarritz into a
fortress.
Earlier, thousands of environmental activists,
human
rights defenders, social activists, people from
the Basque Country and
Yellow Vest protesters marched peacefully across
France's border with
Spain to demand action, from climate change
initiatives to
anti-neoliberal programs.
The
Gipuzkoa Fairground (Ficoba) in Irún was the
centre of the counter-summit held the week prior
to the G7 Summit. The
counter-summit in which hundreds of activists
participated, included dozens of conferences and
workshops that
facilitated debate on the nefarious consequences
of the neo-liberal
offensive of moribund capitalism, the impact of
transnationals on
people's lives and the actions of struggle
to seek an alternative
world. Climate change, wars, economic and social
crises, forced
migration and inequalities were some of
the problems that
the more than 100 organizations present
addressed. At the opening of
the counter-summit, the participants declared
that the few should not
continue to assume that they can govern the
destinies of the
international community.
Counter-summit in Irún, Spain centred around the
Gipuzkoa
Fairground.
Hendaye and Urrugne, another town in the French
Basque
country, also hosted activities which rejected
the G7 meeting in
Biarritz.
