Joint Statement on Company attack on strikers

The German Communist Party, the Communist Party of Luxembourg, the New Communist
Party of the Netherlands and the Workers’ Party of Belgium jointly condemn the brutal
assault by an armed gang, ordered by the company Poppe und Potthoff (Werther), on the
workers who were on strike in their Belgian branch, Meister Coordination Center, in Sprimont,
Belgium. 

The workers were on strike to protest against the planned move of important orders to other locations. When the negotiations with the management came to naught, the workers blocked a few vehicles. On Sunday afternoon [26 February] they were attacked by some twenty security people from Germany. Dressed in black, without company insignia but some of them with Lonsdale caps (popular in neo-Nazi groups), they were armed with batons, baseball bats and tear gas and were wearing balaclavas and bullet-proof vests. They were to carry material from the factory on the orders of the management. In doing so they hit workers and destroyed sitting-rooms and PC rooms of the company. Some workers had their mobile phones confiscated, and some of the occupiers were put under guard in a room.

Following an appeal from the union they were confined in the factory by some two hundred workers and union members from the region. In the night of Sunday to Monday the gang was led out of the factory under police guard.

In a letter, IG Metall [Metalworkers’ Union], Bielefeld, protested "most sharply against the brutal assault of a gang of thugs against striking union members.”

We condemn this use of a private militia, and we ask for the application of Belgian laws against private militias. We demand serious sanctions and prosecution against the police of Sprimont. The police were present at the premises right after the assault but did not disarm nor arrest the gang. They did not confirm their identities and took them back to Germany in a police car, no questions asked. They refused to hear the complaint of one of the workers who was beaten and advised him to draw the conclusions by himself.

These are all failures of the Belgian police system. The Minister of the Interior, Turtelboom, admitted this in the Belgian Parliament.

We demand that the complaint that was registered by the unions get prompt and serious attention. This incident with a private militia, more or less under the protection of the police, stirs up memories from a dark episode in European history. This action must be seen in the light of the Europe-wide campaigns, sponsored by entrepreneur circles, against labour unions. The goal is clear: to break social rights and the opposition against the draconian budget cuts, also by anti-democratic means.

With this assault a new and dangerous chapter opens. We will make effort everywhere to defend the right to strike and to strengthen the unions in their just struggle.