quote:
At 6 a.m. last Friday, Warsaw police raided Le Madame, a hugely popular gay club that is also the hub of counter-cultural activities and political dissent in Poland’s capital, declaring the club closed for good.The closure followed a week in which the police had at first sought to blockade the club, but met with resistance from those inside and others who arrived to help stage a sit-in, and finally agreed to a 48-hour truce.
...
Le Madame had been occupied by hundreds of defenders since Monday, when police blockaded the club and ordered everyone to leave. By Thursday, the American actor John Malkovich had joined a press conference at Le Madame to express his support.
By dawn on Friday, however... “We had too few people inside at that hour to protect the club.”
Police expelled all the 50-odd occupants of the club in the raid, including... the chairwoman of the Polish Green Party, which had its headquarters in the first floor of Le Madame.
The police expulsion was very brutal... with many of those defending the club—who offered passive resistance, some chained to pipes and railings inside—beaten.
After being expelled, the club’s defenders regrouped on the street, and chanted at the police, “To nie koniec, to poczatek” (“It’s Not Over, It’s Just the Beginning”). People continued to surround the club, and refused to leave.
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posted 06 April 2006 05:09 PM
Too bad it *wasn't* like Stonewall, and they beat the ever-lovin' shit outta those cops! 
