GENOA - Italy's press union, FNSI, on Thursday said it had joined anti-globalization protestors who are suing 28 police officials accused of brutality during an international summit here in 2001. The union said it was suing the police on behalf of journalists who were beaten and had equipment seized during a raid on the Pascoli school, which was used as an independent press centre during the Group of Eight summit.
The announcement came during the second hearing in a state trial against high-ranking officers charged with assault, causing grievous bodily harm, professional misconduct, falsifying evidence and defamation.
FNSI, which has applied to be a joint plaintiff, has requested 200,000 euros' compensation for "material and emotional damage" caused by the raid, which took place in the early hours of July 22. "During this arbitrary search, police seized mobile phones, cameras, video cameras, film, cassettes and floppy disks," said FNSI. "It's clear that the police's entire interest was focused on items that had been used to document the unbelievable events that were taking place at that moment." The raid occurred at the same time as a separate police operation across the road in the Diaz school, which housed anti-globalization protestors during the summit.
Over 60 demonstrators were injured in the Diaz and Pascoli raids, which came at the end of a day of clashes between police and protestors. "The real purpose of the entire Pascoli operation was to prevent those within the school from observing and documenting what was happening in the building opposite," said FNSI. It recalled that four journalists had been severely beaten during the two raids, including an independent British reporter, Mark Covell, and a German journalist, Sebastian Zehatschek. Covell was unconscious for 14 hours after the raid, which left him with a vein twisted around his spine, a ripped lung, broken fingers and eight broken ribs. The police say that the people injured were violent and resisted arrest. They say that demonstrators were hiding in the Pascoli school and that both buildings were being used to store dangerous weapons. However, Genoa prosecutors have since dropped all charges against 93 demonstrators arrested during the raid. The police, meanwhile, stand accused of planting evidence, including two Molotov cocktails, and filing false reports. The trial, which has been adjourned until June 29, is one of three judicial proceedings into events during the summit.
Earlier this week, a judge ordered 45 police, prison guards and doctors to stand trial for the alleged abuse of protestors taken to a detention centre after the raids. They have also been charged with fraud, criminal coercion and inhuman and degrading treatment. Over 250 activists have complained of their treatment at the centre, where they say they were spat at, verbally and physically humiliated and threatened with rape. Twenty-five demonstrators are also being tried on charges of looting and ransacking during clashes with police. Some 200,000 demonstrators converged on Genoa for the G8 summit. During two days of mayhem, during which a 23-year-old activist was shot dead by a police officer, shops and businesses were ransacked and hundreds of people injured in clashes between police and demonstrators.
http://www.ansa.it/main/notizie/fdg/200505191800198367/20050519192033445810_ass.html
FNSI, which has applied to be a joint plaintiff, has requested 200,000 euros' compensation for "material and emotional damage" caused by the raid, which took place in the early hours of July 22. "During this arbitrary search, police seized mobile phones, cameras, video cameras, film, cassettes and floppy disks," said FNSI. "It's clear that the police's entire interest was focused on items that had been used to document the unbelievable events that were taking place at that moment." The raid occurred at the same time as a separate police operation across the road in the Diaz school, which housed anti-globalization protestors during the summit.
Over 60 demonstrators were injured in the Diaz and Pascoli raids, which came at the end of a day of clashes between police and protestors. "The real purpose of the entire Pascoli operation was to prevent those within the school from observing and documenting what was happening in the building opposite," said FNSI. It recalled that four journalists had been severely beaten during the two raids, including an independent British reporter, Mark Covell, and a German journalist, Sebastian Zehatschek. Covell was unconscious for 14 hours after the raid, which left him with a vein twisted around his spine, a ripped lung, broken fingers and eight broken ribs. The police say that the people injured were violent and resisted arrest. They say that demonstrators were hiding in the Pascoli school and that both buildings were being used to store dangerous weapons. However, Genoa prosecutors have since dropped all charges against 93 demonstrators arrested during the raid. The police, meanwhile, stand accused of planting evidence, including two Molotov cocktails, and filing false reports. The trial, which has been adjourned until June 29, is one of three judicial proceedings into events during the summit.
Earlier this week, a judge ordered 45 police, prison guards and doctors to stand trial for the alleged abuse of protestors taken to a detention centre after the raids. They have also been charged with fraud, criminal coercion and inhuman and degrading treatment. Over 250 activists have complained of their treatment at the centre, where they say they were spat at, verbally and physically humiliated and threatened with rape. Twenty-five demonstrators are also being tried on charges of looting and ransacking during clashes with police. Some 200,000 demonstrators converged on Genoa for the G8 summit. During two days of mayhem, during which a 23-year-old activist was shot dead by a police officer, shops and businesses were ransacked and hundreds of people injured in clashes between police and demonstrators.
http://www.ansa.it/main/notizie/fdg/200505191800198367/20050519192033445810_ass.html
