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Clashes at the IGC on the European Constitution

01 August 2003

On Saturday 4 October 2003, there was a demonstration to protest against the opening of the intergovernmental conference (IGC) on the drafting of the European Constitution in Rome. Clashes between the police and demonstrators developed after an attempt by the Disobbedienti (an activist network that argues for the need for civil disobedience as a form of political struggle) to enter the forbidden "red zone" (which was cordoned off by police) around the Palazzo dei Congressi building where the IGC was being held. The attempt was followed by police charges.

Two demonstrators who were detained during the clashes are under house arrest, accused of resisting and causing injuries to police officers and of being in possession of weapons (a stone and a stick), which they deny. 68 people face charges in relation to the clashes, and to actions that took place before the march: they include a fire that was started in the offices of a temporary employment agency in the San Paolo neighbourhood (32 of those charged are accused of destruction and looting, an offence that carries a minimum eight-year prison sentence), the emptying of a lorry of animal excrement outside Berlusconi's residence in Rome and of toilet paper outside Palazzo Chigi (the seat of the Italian Parliament).

Police also claim to have found weapons in a van that was being used by the Disobbedienti, including shields, helmets, wooden sticks and cutting instruments. The fact that investigators from a magistrates unit working in the field of anti-terrorism have been placed in charge of investigations may result in charges of belonging to a criminal organisation.

il manifesto 7-8.10.03.