2023-12-17 13:26:00
The last activists present in Liège left the scene around 1 p.m. this Sunday. The Code Red organization is delighted with the success of the action but deplores “the muscular intervention of the police”.
Air traffic in Antwerp has been paralyzed
Code Red had the ambition to block a private jet airport in Antwerp to denounce the aviation sector and its ecological and social consequences. Code Red demands, among other things, an end to subsidies for the aviation sector, a ban on private jets and affordable public transport. Private jet traffic has been paralyzed despite the arrest of 600 activists in Antwerp. No private jet took off from Kortrijk and Antwerp this Saturday.
“We are so proud of these 1,200 activists who took peaceful action against unnecessary luxury private jet flights and against unjustified subsidies to aviation. This action shows that it is no longer tolerated that aviation can develop and pollute without the slightest hindrance, and that the costs are borne by each of us. A first step forward for us is the ban on private jet flights and the end of subsidies to the aviation sector combined with significant investments in affordable public transport,” says Chloé Mikolajczak of Code Rouge.
Edgar Szoc, the president of the Human Rights League, who was present as a legal observer, was also arrested.
“The fundamental right to demonstrate and freedom of expression are directly threatened by these arrests,” denounces Chloé Mikolajczak, spokesperson for Code Rouge. “By arresting us like this, the police are siding with the big polluters in their desire to silence us.”
The president of the Human Rights League arrested during an action of the Code Red movement
Activists injured at Liège airport
In Liège, activists blocked the Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba. Saturday evening they made the decision to extend their action overnight. Of the 600 activists present on the site, around 200 were able to enter the warehouse of the e-commerce giant Alibaba around 10 p.m. “to occupy it peacefully”, reports the movement. They were violently dislodged by the police, Code Red reported this Sunday morning.
”Around 150 activists entered the warehouse and damaged, among other things, packages. There was also a risk of intrusion on the airport side, where the planes take off,” explained the federal police on Sunday morning. During the repression, some of them then became attached. Damage to equipment was also noted in Alibaba’s offices, which prompted the police to make around seventy legal arrests.
Several people were injured in the operation, the organization said. An activist had her arm broken. She was taken to Mont Légia hospital and is scheduled to have surgery this morning. Cases of strangulation were also noted, and people “were beaten”. The information was, however, denied by the federal police. The legal observers were also brutally evacuated by police officers equipped with riot protection, accompanied by dogs, again according to Code Red.
62 people were arrested judicially, on the grounds of degradation.
“We denounce this new disproportionate use of force by the police,” declares Louis Droussin, spokesperson for Code Rouge. “Like yesterday in Antwerp, where mass arrests of activists took place, the police treat non-violent activists as criminals, but we are not the criminals, the criminals are those we denounce through our actions, those who, in full conscience and solely to continue their profit, continue to destroy the planet, contribute to climate change and create social injustice. Our citizen movement will not allow itself to be discouraged or intimidated.”
Code Red activists were evacuated from Alibaba’s premises at Liege Airport. ©photo Johanna de Tessieres Parallel to the start of the EU-CELAC Summit, activists built and tore down a giant “EU-Mercosur GCode Red activists were evacuated from Alibaba’s premises at Liege Airport. ©photo Johanna de Tessieres Parallel to the start of the EU-CELAC Summit, activists built and tore down a giant “EU-Mercosur GCode Red activists were evacuated from Alibaba’s premises at Liege Airport. ©photo Johanna de Tessieres Parallel to the start of the EU-CELAC Summit, activists built and tore down a giant “EU-Mercosur G
Despite these events, around a hundred members remained on the site this Sunday morning, before leaving around 1 p.m.
“Significant material damage”
Laurent Jossart, CEO of Liege Airport, praised in a press release on Sunday “the coordination and collaboration of the security teams who quickly intervened on the site”, while condemning the damage committed by demonstrators inside the Cainiao facilities . However, no details as to the exact nature of these have been communicated, “but they are important”, it is still indicated at Liège airport. The latter therefore reserves the right to file a complaint in order to repair the damage caused. As for the criticisms addressed to him, Laurent Jossart explains that he has always been open to dialogue on the subject: “It is one of the priorities of our Master Plan. It is about finding solutions together against the challenges that await us. ( …) In environmental matters, we have released an investment budget of 60 million euros to triple our photovoltaic capacity, build buildings to the most demanding environmental standards, develop multimodality with rail”, explains he.
Through this occupation, activists denounce the large-scale expansion of the airport on agricultural land. “Liège airport is the fastest growing airport in Europe” declares Louis Droussin for Code Rouge. “Millions of euros of public money support this expansion, which is to the detriment of hundreds of hectares of agricultural land. In Alibaba’s case, more trucks and planes full of low-quality goods are causing more sleepless nights for locals. This is simply unfair. Through this action of civil disobedience, we demand the abandonment of new expansions of airports like that of Liège, and a collectively concerted transition for airport staff,” Louis Droussin of Code Rouge said on Saturday.
Even if the action was intended to be peaceful, the blows were lost between activists and the police. In several videos published on the Code Rouge Instagram account, we see police officers carrying out blows. With batons in hand, several activists were beaten by law enforcement officials.
The demands and justification for this action of civil disobedience are as follows: “The aviation sector is disastrous for the climate and biodiversity. It harms public health and benefits from numerous tax breaks and millions of dollars in subsidies. All this while 80% of the world’s population has never flown and only 1% is responsible for half of aviation emissions. It’s high time we brought the aviation industry to heel and made a 180-degree turn, putting people and planet first.”
Code Red activists took action at Liege Airport. ©photo Johanna de Tessieres Parallel to the start of the EU-CELAC Summit, activists built and tore down a giant “EU-Mercosur G
A demonstration will take place on Sunday at 2 p.m., both in Antwerp and Liège. The first will leave from Antwerp Berchem station to reach the Antwerp airport terminal. The second demonstration will leave from Bierset-Awans station to the parking lot in front of the Liège-Bierset terminal. The movement calls, among other things, for an end to aviation subsidies, a ban on private jets and more budget for public transport.
A climate protester from the “Code Red” movement arrested on December 16, 2023 during an action in Antwerp, Belgium
©AFP
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