Lisbon, Portugal - "Indignados" wrongly reported as victims of fascist attack. Here's what really happened.

received by sysiphus

 24/01/2012 - It was reported by the international media (and also sometimes locally) that an "indignados" demo was attacked by fascists, or that they were sent away by the cops, once again playing the role of victims, but this is far from what really happened. For the indignados no violence can come from whoever participates in "their" demos, "we" can only be good citizens who ask for democracy. All the rest, no matter what, is illusion or provocation.
A demo called for by the organizations of the indignados was about to begin when a group of about 30 fascists with banners and flags approached and tried to integrate with the demo. Already in last March 12 a group of fascists did participate in the massive 300,000 strong demo in Lisbon, with no response. This time however a few people decided the bastards wouldn't go on the demo. And then more people shared this idea, surrounding them. There was no violence a priori from the fascists, and no provocation apart from their simple presence. There was only a decision to not let them march together with us and to kick them out of the area. The police intervened when the clashes began and some fascists were in trouble,  amidst punches, kicks and stones. One of their banners was stolen, two flags burned and at least one fascist had to go to the hospital. The remaining 15 fascists (the other 15 went away after the clashes) had to remain 100 meters away from the demo the rest of the time, with dozens of riot cops protecting them.

What follows next is more or less what happened, translated from a Portuguese newspaper (Diário Digital).

"Nationalist group not allowed to participate in demo after confrontations
A group of about 20 members of the Movimento de Oposição Nacional (MON - nationalist organization) was surrounded by cops this afternoon on the way to the parliament, where the "indignados" were demonstrating, soon after the two groups were involved in clashes.
"We weren't going to make any provocation, we were going to participate in the demo called for in the internet, when hooded individuals in black attacked us. They're people from the extreme left wing and this is a sign of their tolerance. It's the thought dictatorship.", told us João Martins, a member of the MON.
The group, surrounded by police officers, ended up going home and not integrating with the demo.
João Martins, who told the group had already participated in "indignados'" demos before, said there was never any problems, this was the first time, "with one member of the MON going to the hospital with a broken skull, after being kicked and punched."
He added the group has "identitarian nationalist" ideals, but refused any links to fascism or the extreme right wing, telling that their aim in the protest was "to show indignation towards the rotten system rulling the country since 1974". "Everything for this motherland! For Portugal - and nothing else" is the slogan of the MON.
The riot police had to intervene at the beginning of the demo, after a group of the nationalist movement tried to integrate in the demo, where it was promptly rejected. The insults ended up in violence. As soon as they showed their flags, the protesters started to call them "fascists" and "PIDE's" (the political police of Salazar).
The insults soon escalated to clashes, with stones, punches and kicks. The riot cops separated the two groups, but there was still time to burn two flags.
source:
http://diariodigital.sapo.pt/news.asp?section_id=13&id_news=554516