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The ghosts of summit-protests-past: Seeking justice after Genoa at the Grassroots Gathering

category national | anti-capitalism | feature author Wednesday May 28, 2008 11:13author by padraic - GG 2008author email grassrootsgathering08 at gmail dot comauthor phone 00 353 85 724 3832 Report this post to the editors

featured image
From Genoa to the Gathering

The events of Genoa 2001 are still going through the courts, as the Genova Legal Forum puts the state on trial for human rights crimes during the Diaz raid and at Bolzaneto detention centre. Verdicts are in soon. Activist Trauma Support, on tour with films, information, and a donations bucket for the court case, will stop off in Dublin on Friday May 30th to open this year's Grassroots Gathering. We caught up with ATS's Mark Covell before he caught his ferry over.

The ghosts of summit-protests-past – and of the torture techniques pioneered by the British Army in Northern Ireland – will be in the air on Friday May 30th from 8pm, when the 2008 Grassroots Gathering opens with the Irish leg of a major film and information tour by Activist Trauma Support and the Genova Legal Forum. Mark Covell of ATS, a veteran of the protests against the Genoa G8 summit of 2001, will tell the story of the battle for some kind of justice by the survivors of some of Genoa's bloodiest episodes. He'll have some help from the high-quality films put together by the Genova Legal Forum to reconstruct just what happened on those July days in Genoa.

Mark got the inside track on this story the hard way: “I suffered a broken hand, damaged my spine, eight broken ribs, a shredded lung, lost most of my teeth and was in a coma.”

But the reminiscing isn't just for posterity: since 2001, GLC have been busy building cases against the Italian state, and its agents, for the human rights crimes of Genoa. Mark emphasises the scale of the enterprise: “It took some time... to put together two of the largest human rights cases in the world, I think... given the number of police who are on trial. 29 police were arrested for Diaz, and indicted in 2003, put on trial in October 2005, and for Bolzaneto it was 47.”

These cases – dealing with the infamous police attack on the Diaz school, a base-camp for anti-G8 protesters, and with the torture charges surrounding the Bolzaneto detention centre – are set to conclude in the coming months, and GLC and ATS are set on spreading the word and drumming up support for a process that has cost them millions of Euro: “It's cost us about €7,500,000 to prosecute the case.”

Although Mark is hopeful that the trials will result in multiple years in prison for many of the dozens of police chiefs and officers on trial – “the cream of their officer corps” – and in substantial compensation for some of their victims, he also highlights the obstacles facing the case: “Because there is no law of torture in Italy, you can't apply sentences of, say, around ten years. So the highest we'll be able to get is five years, eight months... I'm very disappointed the judge can only hand out sentences according to Italian statute law, it's not enough. You see protestors get eleven years [in the recent 'Trial of 25”] and then you see a... policeman who breaks the fingers of protestors [in Bolzaneto detention centre] only getting like three years. It's not right.”

Although international torture agreements have not been incorporated into Italian law, Mark stresses that the GLC cases draw on the precedents of the Irish state's legal battle with the UK over torture in Northern Ireland: “In 1972 at the time of Bloody Sunday, the British Army came up with five torture techniques, which was revealed in court paperwork from that year. It seems that the police at Bolzaneto adopted four out of the five techniques... Obviously the same techniques have gone on to be used at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib, so what happened in your country is now pretty much standard torture technique chic.

“We want to reach Mary Robinson, because one of the things we wanna do is bring the Diaz case to the United Nations, and we need her help, and we also want to make her aware, and the Irish government, of the relationship that the case has with your country.”

Asked about the implications of the trials and of Genoa's legacy for the movement against global capitalism now and in the future, Mark points out trends in Italy and elsewhere: “Last year a sort of low intensity war broke out between left-wingers and right-wing sort of Nazi supporters in Rome, and this is escalating... There's been a killing of a protester in Turin just a few weeks ago. Also, there's recently been an Italian election where Berlusconi's got back in, and Liga Nord have also swept in... So we're back to a worse political status quo than there was before the G8 itself...

“So we're very conscious of what impact the outcome of these trials might have in Italy... Last year the Diaz and Bolzaneto trials generated about 600 news articles in Italy, plus several TV shows and documentaries... We had a big demo in Genoa in November, we were expecting 20,000 people and 80,000 people showed up... We're hoping to get a parliamentary inquiry off the ground to bring reforms to the Italian police... We're also trying to put Gianfranco Fini on trial, because he's the man responsibe [as then Interior Minister] for ordering the Diaz raid... There's also a new torture law that's passing its way through the Italian parliament – because at the moment Italian police can torture their citizens and get away with it.

“The No-Global movement still exists, especially in places like Latin America, and it's moved on since 2001... The movement won't be bowed by this sort of violence from the state... I think there'll be more protests from 2009 onwards, as people protest over Kyoto, food riots, the energy crisis... The G8 returns to Italy in 2009, in La Maddelena, and we wanna talk about that as well...

“So it's really up to the state to understand what's coming towards it, and not to use violence, to use democratic means and negotiation to sort all this out. No more people need to die. I'm just so tired of seeing people die over this.


Genoa Benefit Film night: An opening to Grassroots Gathering 2008

Casadh, Unit 13, Newmarket Square, Dublin 8
Friday May 30th
8pm

Films:

L'Ordine Publico, Genoa 2001: Public Order during the G8

The Diaz Raid, Genoa 2001

Suggested donation: €3/4
No-one refused through lack of funds

See: http://www.indymedia.ie/article/87736

Related Link: http://grassrootsgathering.wordpress.com/

ggbanner_2_1.jpg

author by Grassroots Gathering 2008 - GG 2008publication date Tue May 27, 2008 23:49author email grassrootsgathering08 at gmail dot comauthor address author phone 00 353 85 724 3832Report this post to the editors

Here it is...

GG 2008 Genoa film night flyer
GG 2008 Genoa film night flyer

Related Link: http://processig8.org/Video/OP.html
author by Laurence Cox - Grassroots Gatheringpublication date Wed May 28, 2008 11:15author address author phone Report this post to the editors

English-language site of the Genova Legal Forum: http://www.supportolegale.org/?q=taxonomy/term/15

The film Genoa Red Zone at http://www.streetparty.sk/subtitles/

Also on Youtube (7 pieces) at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBTpwt5hxmo&feature=related

The film Genova Citta' Aperta (various languages, English subtitles) at http://thepiratebay.org/tor/3561455/Genova.Citta.Aperta....XViD or http://www.streetparty.sk/subtitles/

The film Berlusconi's Mousetrap at http://www.indymedia.ie/article/75401

For anyone who can read Italian, some of Italy's best graphic artists have done a support book available to print at http://www.supportolegale.org/?q=gevsg8

author by Marcopublication date Wed May 28, 2008 11:58author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Just a comment about:

"We're also trying to put Gianfranco Fini on trial, because he's the man responsibe [as then Interior Minister] for ordering the Diaz raid..."

As far as I know, actually the Minister of the Interior at that time was Claudio Scajola (have a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_Minister_of_the_In...erior).

By the way, those of you who are "lucky enough" to understand the Italian language may find it interesting to read this:

http://www.rainews24.rai.it/notizia.asp?newsid=18160

although - hey - apparently he later declared that he had stated it in an "improper way":

http://www.repubblica.it/online/politica/scajola/dichia....html

Finally, those of you who are "lucky enough" to understand the Italian language may also find it interesting to read this (opening quote from the Wikipedia page on the "Fatti del G8 di Genova"):

"La piu' grave sospensione dei diritti democratici in un paese occidentale dopo la seconda guerra mondiale."
(Amnesty International)

author by tomeilepublication date Wed May 28, 2008 13:04author address author phone Report this post to the editors

It is “intensely suspected” by the victims of the Diaz Centre raid that the Italian police had been supplied with an ‘activist list’ provided by BAe mole Martin Hogbin before making the arrests .
Lawyers representing victims have issued an appeal for anyone with information on the movements of Hogbin at the summit to contact them so that they can build a more detailed picture of what he did and where he went to while there .
It is understood that Hogbin travelled on the SWP train from London and camped close to the Diaz centre . If you have any further information contact the Diaz layers at : MattFoot@birnbergpeirce.co.uk

see
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/87092

author by Donagh - GG 2008publication date Wed May 28, 2008 13:49author email grassrootsgathering08 at gmail dot comauthor address author phone Report this post to the editors

I'm afraid I don't have any Italian but thanks for the tips, Marco, especially about Fini. I probably got this mixed up when I was talking to Mark from ATS - so it's not that he doesn't know who/what Fini is/was!

So now I'm wondering what was Fini's position at the time...

author by grassroots gathering 2008publication date Wed May 28, 2008 16:27author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Please note that CASADH is a DRUG & ALCOHOL FREE SPACE, it is used as a drug rehabilitation centre during the week and drugs/alcohol are not allowed on the premises at any time.

author by Marcopublication date Wed May 28, 2008 18:20author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Fini was Deputy Prime Minister at that time. It may be that what you are talking about is that there were claims that he was in Genoa during those days (and, No: not to take part in the demonstrations...). In particular, according to this old article in IM Italy:

http://italy.indymedia.org/news/2004/03/502365.php

he was going to be questioned as a witness about his alleged presence and role in the police forces headquarters during the events. But then I don't know how the things evolved (or if this was actually proved or disproven).

Apologies for the links to the two Italian articles in my comment above: unfortunately I could not find an English version - and I doubt that an automatic translation tool could capture the refined oratory of Italian politicians.

(I wouldn't dare to translate them myself, as my foreign languages' skills result from the same mixture and gave the same outcome as Mr. Giovanni Trapattoni's.)

author by Mark Covellpublication date Thu May 29, 2008 14:52author address author phone Report this post to the editors

thanks marco. we were already aware of the Scajola article :) I think people realise now the task i have of translating some of the 100,000 court documents and articles for the plaintiffs and press alike. Due to the fact british corporate media rarely does anything about the case, there is little in english. it always annoys me intensely when people disregard the fact i am a plaintiff who gets this information from the GLF office and the prosecutors. I always get idiots on urban 75 who demand 'english sources' and then call me a liar...

Fini was the G8 Security Minister for the G8. Scajola stayed on Rome during the demonstrations. Fini was intending for Berlusconi and Scajola to take the blame if it went wrong and for himself to take the credit if it succeeded. Scajola was only informed a few hours before. His only task was to allocate the state police and Carabinieri units that were supposed to give escort and crowd control support to Canterini's 7th unit as they smashed into Diaz. The units Scajola allocated stay in the streets surrounding Diaz and did not take part in the human rights abuse.

The Carabinieri Commander, after walking around Diaz and seeing unconcious bodies everywhere and blood on the floors, walls, etc....went to Canterini and called him an 'A wild beast...and that it was unforgivable what he had done'

Scajola later said during the first 'whitewash' parliamentary inquiry that he knew little of the raid, did not like the look of it and 'pushed it back upstairs to Fini to deal with' . This was the first indication to the victims in late august 2001 that Fini was responsible. Other evidence came to light later which i will discuss at the meeting...

On the subject of Martin Hogbin, Sadly, the london indymedia article was hidden by an inexperienced indymedia journalist who does not know anything about the raid, fearing 'legal action from Hogbin', the article was hidden and to this day we are no closer to understandng his role in genoa at the moment.

Marco, you ask a very interesting question about Fini and about why he has never been called to be question. After G8, fini settled into his job as deputy prime minister and later as the foriegn minister. Due to these facts he had immunity from prosecution along with Berlusconi. In the end we tried the tactic of calling Fini as a prosecution witness in the trial of the 25 in relation to Carlo's death in an attempt to get around this problem but it did not work. The trial of the 25 protesters was more interested in bringing convictions than hearing the truth.

Castelli, the lega Nord Justice minister at the time, was called to testify in the Bolzaneto trial and in 2007. Knowing he faced being accused by the prosecutors for organising the torture at Bolzaneto, said that Fini had orded him to do it during the secret Diaz meeting at the Carabinieri maritime Headquarters on the afternoon of july 20th. this was where Fini was based. I am at a loss to explain the actions of the Bolzaneto Judges in not calling Fini after Prodi came to power to finally get to the bottom of what happened at Bolzaneto.

in Late 2005 it became clear that none of the prosecutors or judges involved in the trial of the 25, Diaz and Bolzaneto were prepared to question Fini so i called for the Diaz parliamentary inquiry which has now amazingly been approved by Berlusconi as he entered government in 2008. It is now expected that Fini will be called in front of the inquiry whilst La Maddalena is happening. Rumours are sweeping italy that Berlusconi refused to give Fini a job in cabinet because Berlusconi knows he would have to sack him when the Diaz verdict comes in.

Finally....Fini will not escape justice. Due to failure of the courts and prosecutors to question Fini, Carlo's case and Bolzaneto are now on their way to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. Fini cannot use his pathetic arguments that he is immune to prosecution by the whole world. I will finish his political career if its the last thing i do. In his attempt to escape justice, he will cause much embarassment and shame for italy as the trials go to ECHR.

Amnesty international, who have just published their 2008 global human rights report quotes this:

http://thereport.amnesty.org/eng/regions/europe-and-cen...italy

G8 trials

Trials against law enforcement officials involved in the policing of the G8 summit in Genoa in 2001 continued. It is estimated that over 200,000 people participated in anti-globalization demonstrations on the streets of Genoa in the days immediately preceding and during the summit in 2001.

* On 17 January, it emerged that key evidence during a hearing in the trial of 29 police officers facing charges of, among others, violence and the fabrication of evidence in relation to the Diaz school building raid, had disappeared. The Genoa Questura (police station) stated that they may have been “destroyed by mistake”.
* In May, the first sentence for the G8 events was handed down. The Ministry of Interior was sentenced to pay reparations of €5,000 to Marina Spaccini and €18,000 to Simona Zabetta Coda, who were beaten by police officers in Genoa.
* In March, the European Court of Human Rights declared admissible the application lodged in the case of Carlo Giuliani, who was fatally shot by a law enforcement official during the G8 summit.

author by Marcopublication date Fri May 30, 2008 17:12author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Thanks a lot for the detailed clarification, Mark, and Good Luck to you and to everyone involved in this.

About:

"Finally....Fini will not escape justice. Due to failure of the courts and prosecutors to question Fini, Carlo's case and Bolzaneto are now on their way to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. Fini cannot use his pathetic arguments that he is immune to prosecution by the whole world. I will finish his political career if its the last thing i do. In his attempt to escape justice, he will cause much embarassment and shame for italy as the trials go to ECHR."

I have to say that, personally, I would not be so optimistic (Italy's recent and remote history is full of characters - even in very prominent political positions - whose personal history features a variety of "interesting" legal cases. Which however did not destroy their political careers - rather the opposite, I'd say).

Yet I completely agree that campaigns to have justice, support for the victims and public discussion about these events should go on, also at the international level. As the slogan goes: "La memoria e' un ingranaggio collettivo" ("Memory is a collective gear").

author by Mark O'Connor - Gluaiseachtpublication date Fri Jun 06, 2008 14:48author email markpeteroconnor at yahoo dot comauthor address author phone Report this post to the editors

When I say I was in Genoa, it feels like saying 'I'm Spartacus'.

When I read names like Scajola, Fini, Giuliani it all comes flooding back. Hearing the screams and smashing glass from the Diaz school across the road. The pigs descending for 1 last hit.
(whaddya know; Brian Keenan was right, hearing torture being done to others is worse than receiving it).

Hiding in a room with a bunch of reporters. The cops come trundling through the corridors. Prepare to get the shit battoned out of you. "Prenza, prenza!" A couple of pigs boss through the room, pick up a few pages from printers, look around, fumble, and leave the room. What were you looking for you little piggy? You slave.

The panicked German girl shouting 'sheisen' and kickin furniture. The surreality of Vittorio Agnelotti holding a press conference in the indymedia centre basement while shouting continues outside. Shooting footage from the 3rd floor window of more pigs arriving. The injured, broken arms in splints, bloody heads wrapped in bandages, whistles of protest, "assassinos, assassinos". The piggy who tells me "stop filming or you will be arrested." Up yours piggy, you'll be on candid camera in "Berlisconi's mousetrap" in a year or so. And throughout the bullshit, I still never smoked a fag. (but you never really quit, do you?)

Filming the blood on the walls of the Diaz school. Destroyed friends, hugging, crying.
Sleeping on a gym floor in a tshirt. Sick in my stomach. Waking panicked with each slamming door.
Getting home, sleeping outside the Italian embassy. News at 1, star p3. Ireland sleeps on. Italy denies.
At home looking back at video footage of the night before in the car park, where we sang Beatles songs to keep our spirits up. The brothers who sang along that night, who ended up in a Kitty Holland article the following week, p3, showing the wounds from the pigs. (If you read this lads, please get in touch and say hello; I hope all's well.)

This shit happened.

Justice for those attacked by the Italian police in Genoa NOW.

Solidarity,
Mark

author by Sina - Orgasanpublication date Sat Jun 07, 2008 06:58author email uriohau at gmail dot comauthor address author phone Report this post to the editors

Kia Ora

I am Sina Brown-Davis one of the 13 Defendants that are facing trial in Melbourne next year as a result of overblown charges relating to the protests against the g20 meeting in Melbourne 06.

Love and Solidarity

Kia Kaha
(stay strong)

In November 2006, people took to the streets of Melbourne to confront the G20, a meeting of the world’s most powerful finance ministers whose policies perpetrate suffering and violence in countless communities around the world every day. Since that protest, Victorian and Federal police have carried out a vast operation of surveillance and arrests, raiding houses at dawn and slapping protestors with ludicrous charges and repressive bail conditions. This is a campaign of intimidation and part of an attempt to criminalise protest. The legal process for those charged after the G20 protests moves slowly on. There have been a few developments this month.

Akin Sari sentenced

Akin Sari was sentenced to 28 months gaol with a minimum non-parole period of 14 months. Judge Punshon also ordered him to pay $8 310 for damaged to a police van.

Akin pleaded guilty to 9 charges including riot, assault and aggravated burglary. Amongst the general media hysteria about the G20 protests, Akin has been singled out for specialcondemnation and racist vilification. Arrested on November 19, the day after the street protests, he was initially denied bail for a number of weeks. Bail was eventually granted, but was revoked when he breached his reporting conditions and travelled to Sydney. He has spent roughly 7 months locked up already, so he will spend at least another 7 months behind bars.

Akin Sari has been moved to Barwon Prison. Harder for people to visit. New postal address:
Locked Bag 7, Lara VIC 3212.

Make sure you put a return name and address or it won’t be accepted.

Committal Hearing Continues

The committal hearing for the remaining G20 defendants going through adult court began on February 18. During the hearing, 10 people agreed to plead guilty to reduced charges, leaving 13 people still going through the hearing. In a committal hearing the prosecution has to prove to the magistrate that there’s enough evidence for the charges to go to trial with some chance that people will be found guilty. Over three weeks the defence cross-examined a number of witnesses, most of whom were police officers. At the time of writing, people are still waiting for the magistrate to determine which charges will be going to trial. When she rules on this in late March a date for trial will be set.

Those who agreed to plead guilty will have their next hearing in early April. All of those who took plea bargains pleaded guilty to riot, and some individuals also pleaded guilty to other charges including criminal damage and recklessly causing serious injury. The prosecution have said that they’ll be seeking jail sentences for some people.

People from the G20 Arrestee Solidarity Network and Food not Bombs tried to make court more bearable by providing picnic lunches and money from fundraisers was used to help people with travel and legal costs.
Taskforce Salver Investigation Notes

During the committal hearing the defence obtained copies of many of the notes made by police about the G20 protests, including notes from ‘Taskforce Salver’, the taskforce set up to investigate G20 protestors. These notes are quite extensive, although sections areblacked out and other bits are poorly photocopied, and they add to the information we have about how and why people were arrested. Here are some preliminary notes on what we can learn from this information.

The notes make it clear that, from the beginning of the investigation, the police were targeting
individuals they had already identified as activists and therefore believed were ‘leaders.’ As well as going after individuals
they had picked out from the start, they also attended protests in both Melbourne and Sydney in the hope of identifying people
in the crowds, and arrested people from these identifications. Police who have monitored forest protesters, the Newtown police in Sydney and a number of universities and schools provided information to Taskforce Salver.

Activist social networks were also targeted. In January of 2001, groups of plain clothes police carried out surveillance of a number of pubs in inner-city Melbourne. (They were given instructions that officers drinking shouldn’t drive or arrest anyone.) Police also tried to identify people by searching for the names of punk bands from patches worn to the protest. Clothing, including shoes, bags and hats, was often used in making identifications and was seized in searches as people were arrested.

Taskforce Salver worked very closely with the APEC taskforce in Sydney. As we already knew, police from the APEC squad were present at the G20 protests. They were keen to help with the Sydney arrests and exchanged information with Melbourne. In return, Taskforce Salver sent APEC police video footage of solidarity demonstrations outside the court in Melbourne.

It was the APEC taskforce who recommended that the Sydney arrests be coordinated through the Counter Terrorism unit. When a member of Taskforce Salver first talked to the Counter Terrorism unit after this suggestion, they originally refused and said it wasn’t in their charter. The APEC taskforce, who arranged logistics for the arrests, nevertheless requested their involvement. As the Counter Terrorism unit did take part in the arrests, it is clear the cops in charge of policing APEC won their argument that these arrests and these political crimes should be dealt with by Counter Terrorism police.

Taskforce Salver also used the intensification of policing in the lead up to APEC to help their inquiries more generally. When they released the infamous ‘persons of interest’ photos to Crimestoppers and the media, they hoped that the hype around APEC would help get them national media coverage. Indeed, the photos – which showed 24 people without indicating
what, if any, crime they were suspected of, did receive widespread attention and a number of people were identified from them or were frightened into turning themselves in.

What can we learn from all this? That talking in pubs isn’t safe. That police are worried about protesters. That when we’re trying to hide our identities we need to be more thorough. That we could be under surveillance. These are things that perhaps we should have known already but didn’t want to take seriously.

But although this is serious and frightening it isn’t the end of the world. We can learn from this, keep supporting each other and continue resisting openly. The most important thing right now is that some of our friends and comrades are awaiting sentencing or still going through the tense tedium of court – or, in the worst case, in prison.

The G20 investigations are a test for both sides. The police have thrown intense resources towards them and what they manage to get away with in these trials is going to set new limits for what they’ll try to get away with next time. Anyone who thinks that we need to keep opening the spaces for protest and direct action needs to support the arrestees both politically and practically.

For more information about ongoing solidarity, organising, see www.afterg20.org

thanks to Mutiny Zine Chur

g20 defendants Melbourne 08
g20 defendants Melbourne 08

Oppressed of the World Unite & Fight
Oppressed of the World Unite & Fight

Related Link: http://afterg20.org/
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