Day 3: Monday
It’s the No Borders demo today, which highlights many of the social issues around climate change and authoritarian government solutions. We’re a bit late and find, the march in full flow, the escorting the demo through the centre of Copenhagen. For 200 protesters, there are an awful lot of cops; riot vans in every street, riot cops lurking in every corner, lines and lines of police….

amazingly over the top. Appartently the police operation costs Copenhagen £6 million over the period of the conference. There is a wonderfully surreal scene of a small band of protesters, with empty boulevards and lines of police, while a bike-powered sound system plays great tunes. Unfortunately I have to leave at 2pm, to get back for front desk duty at the school, but what followed is the funniest bit of civil disobedience ever: a massive greenwash balloon-advert-thing is untied from its tether, and bounced down the road, before “popping” a way down the road…watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWuFnFrwEmg; amazing! The demo ends well; the group are able to push forward to Christiana, where the police are forbidden to enter, and the demo disperses peacefully.

That night, the “Climate Bottom” tent at Christiana is home to a discussion panel with Noami Klein (author of No Logo and the Shock Doctrine; as well as being a counter-culture hero) and Mark Hardt (well-known author of Empire). We get there just in time for the ending Q&A session; the marque is packed to the rafters, and I we climb on tables to get a view. The discussion is brilliant and they announce that the aim of the Action Day on Wednesday is to convene a People’s Forum, with the Global South (a representative body for those undeveloped nations worst affected by the effects of climate change) coming out of the COP15 conference and join the main demo, who will breach the fences at the COP15 centre; they will meet in the car park to discuss the way forward for people-centred, rather than politically-driven, solutions to climate change. The talk ends with a standing ovation, and the music line-up starts.

A few hours later, Christiana is invaded by the police, with helicopter and riot vans blocking all the exits off the island that is Christiana. There is pandemonium; people report back on the tear-gassing in the main tent, the detaining and questioning of 100 or so people and another surreal adventure. I make it out the area, before the police net is totally drawn. Make it back to the school, and the rest of the night is spent on Medic duty, getting people to put their tear-gassed clothes in plastic bags as they return, to prevent their gassed clothes “gassing” others (its nasty stuff).

Day 4: Tuesday
Its preparation day for the Day of Action, and everyone’s off at meetings, reconnaissance trips, putting together plans, banners and accessories. News comes in about raids on the bicycle centre, the Candy Factory, where it is rumoured that a giant bicycle is being built by the Bike Bloc; they find nothing but make some arrests. We head to Christiana to see the damage from the night before; however its business as usual, with few remenants from the night before.

Back to the school for a quick planning meeting about a Climate Camp action in the centre of Copenhagen in the next few days. We get news that we might be raided next, so a bunch of us head to the Rag Centre (not its real name, but we English-speakers are just crap at pronouncing long Danish street name; so we shortened it) to the Climate Justice Action Hub meeting; this is where all the activist networks in Copenhagen meet to discuss overall strategy for the summit. Tonight is a last minute brief on the Day of Action, the day of peaceful mass civil disobedience. The Rag Centre is on an abandoned industrial estate, which is being used as a convergence centre and sleeping space for the large number of European activists visiting. The consensus-based meeting is attended by between 200-300 people, and updates and a pep talk are given. Then the meeting divides into a number of smaller “Blocs” (like Blue, Green, Bike), where specific action strategies and scenarios are discussed; we are a little more prepared and informed for the big day. We get a “donations-based” meal from the Anarchist Teapot kitchen, who brilliant vegan food en-masse; head back and crash.

Day 5: Wednesday
This is the Day of Action, or rather the “Reclaim Power” march…we awake at 6am to find that the Politi (Denmark’s finest) waiting at the doors of the school, searching each and everyone leaving the building to do on the demo…we have legal observers ensuring that the police stick to the rules. By 9am, they leave and everyone has set out on their variously coloured blocs, which entail different meeting points and sequence of actions to be undertaken. The target for direct action is the Bella Centre, conference of the political masters, and the aim is to enter the centre by all non-violent means. We join the march, and lock-arms with comrades, circling the whole body of protesters, so that the police cannot mix with and bully the crowd; the body of the crowd lock arms in rows too, to keep the space “tight”. The procession is led by members of the Global South, and Campesinos (small peasant farmer groups), and we make our way towards the Bella Centre, chanting away. As the march proceeds, plain clothes police try to enter the crowd, then peacefully ejected with shouts of “Go Away! Go Away!”. We make our way to the gates, which numerous people intend to climb over; the riot police move in confront the crowd. There is some pushing, but the crowd remains peaceful; suddenly people are pepper-sprayed in the face, and police begin the baton the crowd visciously. Numerous acts of police brutality follow; this clip is fresh off the press: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQrXOg8LJ7o.

The demo is unable to scale the fences, so things settle down and a stale-mate is drawn. Members of the crowd then start their People’s Forum, which involves a few speeches, and then the crows breaking up into smaller groups, working out the “solutions” to the climate crisis. These ideas are then filtered back to another plenary session; a democratic forum for all to express their ideas, strategies and a way forward (more engaging and justice than the politicking in the Centre directly behind). At another moment, an affinity group pull out their grand-design; an inflatable bridge to get over the moat which surrounds the Centre. Cheers from the crowd, and they move it into place; police dogs appear on the other side, and two brave protesters cross the bridge into the jaws of inevitable arrest. Police draw up on the other side of the protest and try to break into the crowd; they are stopped by two lines of people, linked arm-in-arm (oh, and bicycles thrown under wheels of the police vans speeding at the crowd). A Rebel Clown Army cadre moves in, and entertains us all with his entertaining tom-foolery in the stand-off between protesters and police.

The People’s Forum ends. There is word that the delegates from the COP15 conference have been stopped from leaving, with police blocking their way into the crowd outside the centre. Eventually, the demo decides to leave, with a slow march back into Copenhagen. I grab a bicycle from the mauled pile by the side of the road, and move off with the Bike Bloc, riding ahead of the main body of the crowd, followed by no less than three police helicopters. We then break off down a rural cycle path, and wind our way back to Christiana for a little breather (although a police helicopter circles menacingly and fire crackers/ stun grenades break the quiet night). Then back to the ranch for food, wash and blogging. News flows in from the day, and many return with the bruises from police batoning, and news of other comrades sitting in cells from other mass arrests during the day. However the mood is good, with stories from the day flowing in, and strategies assessed. We are dead-knackered, but some (like me) are still awake and chattering at 3am.

Next: Finally meet with a Zero-Waster