The Genoa G8 trials and Their Aftermath

A short but perceptive analysis of the trials of both police and protestors and their different outcomes, by Yasha Maccanico, is one of the the main articles in the latest Statewatch News:

"The events of 19-21 July 2001 represent a wake-up call in terms of the brutality of policing and preemptive criminalisation used against a mass popular and international demonstration. It resulted in the death of protester Carlo Giuliani and in thousands of people from the European Union and beyond experiencing an array of repressive measures. These measures included temporary detention in humiliating circumstances and physical violence. The two key trials of police officers concerned events at the Bolzaneto barracks, which was turned into a make-shift prison to hold protesters for the duration of the summit, and the Diaz school. The school was used as a dormitory, where a late-night police raid, justified on the basis of fabricated evidence (a Molotov cocktail brought into the school by police officers), and spurious claims (for instance “the presence of black tops”) resulted in injuries to scores of protesters, many of whom were sleeping when they were attacked."

The full nine page article is available as a pdf download from Statewatch:

www.statewatch.org/whatsnew.htm