GENOA: An Italian view of "public order policing" Italian style
01 May 2001
482 people injured; 280 arrests; 2,093 people turned back at the borders; Carlo Giuliani shot dead by police
It was thought that European public order policing had sunk to a new low after police opened fire on demonstrators in Gothenburg in June. However, it reached a new nadir in Genoa on 19-21 July when, during widespread demonstrations against the G8 summit, Italian police shot dead Carlo Giuliani. Claims by the Berlusconi government that it would guarantee the right of peaceful protest (as well as maintaining public order and security) were swept aside by practices on the ground. Clashes between the police and demonstrators resulted in 482 people receiving injuries (of whom 355 were protestors, 19 journalists and 108 policemen) and 280 arrests (105 from outside Italy); charges were brought against 230 persons. Forty-nine people were reported to be still in prison [in mid-August]. They have been charged with "subversive association aimed at destruction and looting" (a charge which allows the use of anti-terrorist legislation) and in some cases of resisting a public official.
On 1 August Interior Minister Claudio Scajola survived a confidence vote in parliament. A parliamentary inquiry has been set up, and eight police investigations into the policing of the event have been ordered. Three have so far been submitted to parliament. These relate to a raid on two schools hosting protestors and the independent media centre, allegations of torture at the Bolzaneto prison complex and to the overall management of public order. Three police officials have been removed from their posts: Arnaldo La Barbera, head of Ucigos (special operations, antiterrorist central office); Ansoino Andreassi (deputy head of police); and Francesco Colucci (head of Genoa police). A carabiniere conscript, Mario Placanica, is under investigation for manslaughter for the death of Carlo Giuliani - the first person to die on a demonstration in Italy since Giorgiana Masi was shot by police in Rome in 1977.
Security deployment
As the number of demonstrators expected in Genoa grew in the weeks leading up to the summit, and the Genova Social Forum (GSF) umbrella organisation gave over 700 organisations a common voice, security preparations took shape. Concerns over violent protest and the protection of the G8 meeting, (including secret service rumours that Osama bin Laden would attempt to kill George Bush), resulted in unprecedented measures. Clashes during the EU summit in Gothenburg on 14-16 June and the World Economic Forum in Salzburg on 1-3 July also caused concern at the European level.
Security arrangements included the hiring of a luxury cruiser as residential quarters for the G8 leaders, (George Bush stayed on a US aircraft carrier). Six naval vessels were deployed to patrol the Porto Vecchio (Old Harbour) area, with the port closed to non-G8 activities, as was the airport and nearest train stations. Defences for the summit included batteries of ground-to-air Spada missiles deployed in the port and airport, 12-ft high barriers of barbed wire mesh strengthened with metal bars and concrete bases around the "red zone", and 18,000 law enforcement officials.
These were drawn from:
- the national police (Genoa police, flying squads, riot police and the interior ministry-run Ucigos and SCO, Central Operative Service);
- the paramilitary carabinieri (6,300 officers, of whom 27% were conscripts, from the Genoa provincial command, corps trained in public order, flying squads and ROS, Reparto Operazioni Speciali, special operations, anti-terrorist & organised crime section);
- the prison service (GOM, Gruppo Operativo Mobile, prisons flying squad reporting to the justice ministry set up in 1997);
- and the Corpo Forestale (the Corps of Foresters, on horseback and on foot, replacing carabinieri on the streets after Giuliani was shot in the afternoon of 19 July).
Borders
Italy reinstated border controls by suspending provisions in the Schenge