BY SEAN HEALY
Swedish riot police have opened fire with live ammunition on anti-capitalist protesters, injuring three, one critically, in a desperate attempt to put down demonstrations in Gothenburg against a summit of European Union leaders.
It is the first time that live ammunition has been used against anti-capitalist demonstrators in the industrialised world since the present worldwide wave of protests against corporate globalisation began in Seattle in November 1999.
Swedish police said that they used live rounds because plastic- or rubber-coated ammunition wasn't available.
Twenty-five thousand people, from Sweden and across Europe, had gathered in the Baltic Sea port city on June 15 to confront the heads of government of all 15 EU countries, who were meeting to discuss plans for European enlargement under the Treaty of Nice, signed in December.
In a statement issued before the summit began, the protest coalition said "We protest against the undemocratic EU and we say 'No' to giving neo-liberal politics, in the form of the European Monetary Union, the dignity of constitutional law. We oppose the transformation of the public sector and our environment into nothing more than market commodities. We oppose the militarisation of the EU, racism and the construction of a 'Fortress Europe'."
Protesters also targeted the "Toxic Texan", US President George W Bush, in Sweden to attend the summit, over his decision to renege on the Kyoto protocol on climate change and his determination to build the controversial National Missile Defence scheme.
Dozens were arrested on June 14 when they blockaded a school where Bush was speaking.
Following the example of police tactics in other countries, most recently in Quebec City, Canada, during the April Summit of the Americas, Swedish authorities erected a high steel barrier to keep protesters away from the main conference site, but agreed to allow protests to go ahead in other parts of the city.
Police were initially heavily outnumbered by the demonstrators and retreated, leaving the people to control the central plaza and the district near Gothenburg University. Some demonstrators stripped off and danced naked to celebrate, while others formed a giant conga line.
By midday, however, police had decided to crack down on the protests and moved in on groups in areas distant from the conference site. The first assault occurred outside the city's main theatre, when police with dogs sought to sweep demonstrators from the square.
Similar scenes were repeated across the city, including in the university district, as police sought to corral protesters into the port area. According to one demonstrator, "Twenty police on horses started to charge at me as I was peacefully holding a banner. We were totally peaceful."
"Our deal with the police was to keep horses, dogs and riot police away from the streets", said one organiser, Helena Tagesson, of the French-based group ATTAC, which calls for a tax on speculative capital movements. "They did not stick to the promise and of course I'm mad."
In response, protesters erected crude barricades of street furniture. Some, reportedly including members of a Black Bloc wearing masks, turned on shops seen as symbols of global capitalism, including a bank and a McDonald's store.
Three demonstrators were shot during police assaults outside the university; one was shot in the abdomen and is in a critical condition. Another 27 were admitted to hospital with other wounds, mostly minor.
The heat was on inside the summit too. Ireland's rejection of the Treaty of Nice in a June 7 referendum cast a shadow over leaders' discussions, with Irish PM Bertie Ahern telling the summit that there was a public perception that the EU was impenetrable, undemocratic and distant from people's concerns.
Newly elected Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi expressed fears that similar protests may occur in Genoa, in northern Italy, where the heads of the Group of Eight top industrialised nations are due to meet in late July.