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Library demo: students fight for longer hours

A left-wing youth collective has occupied a library in Catalonia demanding that the opening hours be lengthened to include Monday mornings and lunchtimes.

Published: 21 January 2015 15:22 CET
Library demo: students fight for longer hours
Photo of a library: Shutterstock

Arran, which describes itself as supporting ‘independence, socialism and feminism’ on its website, has said its members will sleep in the library until their demands are met, reported Catalan daily La Vanguardia on Wednesday.

Around 25 group members have occupied the library, located in the Casino, a modernist building in the Catalonian town of Manresa, sleeping in the building on Monday and Tuesday night to "put pressure on Manresa local council".

They have been protesting with banners reading: "We want longer opening hours for studying!"

Nil Saladich, a spokesperson for the group said: "We will continue to occupy until we have accomplished our objective."

On Thursday the group will petition the local council to lengthen the library’s opening hours, especially on Monday mornings and during lunchtimes. They also want the library to open a study room during exam periods.

The library is the only one in the town centre and is currently closed on Monday mornings as well as daily between 2pm and 4.30pm 

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PROTESTS

Calls for special police tactics to be available across Sweden

The chairwoman of the Police Association West Region has said that police special tactics, known as Särskild polistaktik or SPT, should be available across Sweden, to use in demonstrations similar to those during the Easter weekend.

Published: 24 April 2022 15:56 CEST
Calls for special police tactics to be available across Sweden

SPT, (Särskild polistaktik), is a tactic where the police work with communication rather than physical measures to reduce the risk of conflicts during events like demonstrations.

Tactics include knowledge about how social movements function and how crowds act, as well as understanding how individuals and groups act in a given situation. Police may attempt to engage in collaboration and trust building, which they are specially trained to do.

Katharina von Sydow, chairwoman of the Police Association West Region, told Swedish Radio P4 West that the concept should exist throughout the country.

“We have nothing to defend ourselves within 10 to 15 metres. We need tools to stop this type of violent riot without doing too much damage,” she said.

SPT is used in the West region, the South region and in Stockholm, which doesn’t cover all the places where the Easter weekend riots took place.

In the wake of the riots, police unions and the police’s chief safety representative had a meeting with the National Police Chief, Anders Tornberg, and demanded an evaluation of the police’s work. Katharina von Sydow now hopes that the tactics will be introduced everywhere.

“This concept must exist throughout the country”, she said.

During the Easter weekend around 200 people were involved in riots after a planned demonstration by anti-Muslim Danish politician Rasmus Paludan and his party Stram Kurs (Hard Line), that included the burning of the Muslim holy book, the Koran.

Police revealed on Friday that at least 104 officers were injured in counter-demonstrations that they say were hijacked by criminal gangs intent on targeting the police. 

Forty people were arrested and police are continuing to investigate the violent riots for which they admitted they were unprepared. 

Paludan’s application for another demonstration this weekend was rejected by police.

In Norway on Saturday, police used tear gas against several people during a Koran-burning demonstration after hundreds of counter-demonstrators clashed with police in the town of Sandefjord.

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