Similarly to what happened the last two years, a group of inspectors crossed the wire fences of the future headquarter of the NATO Response Force in Valencia (Spain) in order to claim for its closure and return to the population, inspite of a strong deployment of police forces.

 
Civil inspectors entered the base near Valencia but inmediately were expelled by the police

May 14, 2005

Similarly to what happened the last two years, a group of inspectors crossed the wire fences of the future headquarter of the NATO Response Force in Valencia (Spain) in order to claim for its closure and return to the population, inspite of a strong deployment of police forces.

More than one hundred civil inspectors left on saturday morning the village of Bétera to undertake the walk to the headquarter of the NATOs Rapid Reaction Force, which lies at a distance of 4 km. The participants were equipped with white coats, signs (showing slogans as "CLOSE DOWN THE BASE", "RETURN THE BASE", "NATO OUT"), prismatics, cameras, questionnaires and, as a special feature this year, with magnifying glasses in order to carry out their investigation. During the march of about one hour the group has been accompanied by a strong deployment of the Guardia Civil (military security forces), that consisted in a large number of police vehicles, motorbikes, dozens of officers and dogs. Not to forget a helicopter that several times passed closely to the ground and even landed on a roundabout near the headquarter, only some meters away from the march. Some officers intended to impede the advance of the group on the road leading to the base, arguing that they were "waiting for instructions", but the inspectores passed them quite easily.

About 12’30 a.m. the march, that at this time had a lenght of about 100m, crossed the road and started walking directly beside the headquarter's fence. Some minutes later they reached the place where the entrance was to happen, near to the fences of the main installations of the base. Inspite of the presence of the riot police inside and outside the base and of the helicopter just a few meters above the inspectors' heads, the fourteen inspectors in charge of carrying out the inspection of the interior of the base, managed to cross the wire fences and entered the military site. During these moments it could be seen that the officers were acting with more brutality that in former editions of this action, threatening the participants with their truncheons, pushing them violently and even grabbing their necks. The persons that had entered the base did not manage to advance in direction of the main installations on accounts of the expeditiuos conduct of the riot police, that after surrounding and concentrating the group on a small spot forced them to sit down using in several cases painful immovilizing techniques. The officers that were present in the interior of the military site refused to answer any of the questions of the questionnaires that the inspectors carried with them and that treated topics such as the presence of weapons of mass destruction, uranium ammunition and cluster bombs at the NATO base. In a few minutes, and even without sufficient time to take their arab tea, the fourteen inspectors were identified and expelled, carrying them one by one over a hole in the fence to the outside. None of them was arrested.

In the exterior, the other inspectors sang and threw flowers in honor of the potential victims of this offensive military installation.

As we were told by the inspectors team, "once again the secretism and the opacity of the military affairs has been visible: As we could not carry out the intended mission of observation we will return next year. Nevertheless we were able to confirm that it is an installation that produces and stores violence, insecurity and fear, and that has the capacity to project them to any place in the world. As we don't want to be part of a global war in that everyone of us is a potential victim, we reclaim the dismantling of these and the other military installations. In the meanwhile we will do everything possible to obstruct and impede their functioning by means of disobedience and nonviolent action. For now we leave quite pleased, because our action supposed a hindrance to the normal functioning of this war installation for quite a while".

The proposal that they make with their action is obvious: "immediate closure of the installation, return of 100% of the land to the village of Bétera for social and ecologic use, as an extension of the Natural Parc "La Sierra Calderona" and as a center of environmental observation and protection (using of the buildings and the military helicopters)".

Photos:
http://barcelona.indymedia.org/newswire/display/178841/index.php

Press (spanish):
http://www.nodo50.org/tortuga/article.php3?id_article=1860

Further information:

Context of the action

This action continues a campaign of four years, during which have taken place several marches, demonstrations, camps, parodies of the base as a theme parc of war, graffities, retouching of traffic signs, lock-ons, “disinfections