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FREE THE ITALIAN ACTIVIST NOW

GR | 12.12.2002 12:55

Protest Dec 12th

Free the political prisoners - drop the charges now!
5-7pm Thursday December 12,
The Italian Embassy,
Grosvenor Square,
London W1

As you may know, twenty Italian activists have been arrested and charged in the last weeks. They have been charged with vague but serious offences including holding opinions against the state! Several charges were made under laws enacted during the fascist rule in the 1920's which were never repealed. Some of the prisoners are still being held in solitary confinement.

The arrests follow the extraordinary success of the European Social Forum in Florence in early November which brought together 60, 000 anticapitalists, trade unionists and NGO campaigners to discuss opposition to the neo-liberal disaster. All those arrested were centrally involved in the forum.

The Italian movement has mounted a massive defense campaign. 100,000 people demonstrated in the small southern city of Cosenza to free the prisoners, 20,000 marched in Florence - more mass protests are planned.

Globalise Resistance alongside Italian movement organisations in England has launched an open letter and is calling a third, mass protest at the Italian Embassy in London to demand the prisoners are released and all charges dropped. We must not allow the criminalisation of the Italian movement,

WE CALL ON ALL THE MOVEMENTS, UNI ONS AND PARTIES WHO WERE IN FLORENCE AND THOSE WHO OPPOSE NEOLIBERAL POLICIES AND WAR TO STAND UP AGAINST THIS BLATANT INJUSTICE.

GR
- Homepage: http://www.resist.org.uk

Comments

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please update yourself

12.12.2002 14:47

all of those arrested initially from the South, and charged with associative offences such as "conspiracy to impede the exercise of government and subvert the economy", were in fact released a week ago.

Last friday another 23 people were arrested and have been charged with specific offences. Two demonstrations will take place on saturday in Genoa. One, to Marassi Prison, is organised by autonomists and anarchists and will probably be quite small. The second will be much larger and is organised by the Genoa Social Forum, CGIL and the Carlo Giuliani Coalition. In the aftermath of an explosion outside the prosecutors office the second group have emphasised that their protest is not against the prosecution of those charged, but instead a call for 'truth and justice' about what happened in Genoa.

You can make of that what you will.

h.