THE ITALIAN JOB "In my opinion these raids were meant to intimidate
some of the only independent media in the country. Now that Berlusconi
has given more money to RAI, the Italian equivalent of the BBC, he has
direct control or influence over 90% of Italian print and radio media,
state owned or otherwise." - Indymedia spokesperson. On Wednesday
morning, the Carabinieri (Italian paramilitary police) raided three
social centres that were partly being used as offices for Indymedia. Two
attorneys from Genoa gave the order for the nation-wide operation in
which police seized computers, archives, and equipment as part of an
ongoing enquiry investigating the events of last summers anti G8 protest
in Genoa. The raid was meant to confiscate footage and info on the brutal
police raid of two buildings during the protests (see SchNEWS 314/315).
These were being used for accommodation, medical, media and legal
services by protestors and the raids received international condemnation.
Amnesty and the United Nations have each ordered independent enquiries
into police conduct. One of the social centres raided was the Cobas Trade
Union centre, which with over 10,000 members is the biggest of its kind
in Italy. During the raids police confiscated over 160 hours of original
video footage of the protests including film of the murder of Carlo
Gulliani by police and the school raid. Two days ago Itallian Defence
minister Skajola admitted that he did in fact give the order of 'shoot to
kill' if any sizeable number of people moved into the red zone during the
protests. A spokesperson from Indymedia told SchNEWS, "It's not
likely that they will use the stuff they've nicked from Indymedia to
properly investigate and try the police for murder and excessive
violence. We reckon they'll just use it to identify and arrest more
protestors...they already have loads of cctv footage of the protests, why
else would they need ours too?" Indymedia was established in Seattle
to cover the protests against the World Trade Organisation, and the idea
has now spread across the world. In the Berlusconi controlled media world
of Italy, Indymedia is one of the few independants - during the G8
demonstrations they were getting over one million hits a day. A
demonstration will take place at the Italian embassy in London on
Saturday. There will also be a demo in Rome on March, 16th.
http://italy.indymedia.org
Check out www.indymedia.org.uk for updates.
CRAP ARREST OF THE WEEK For sitting down... At a protest against the arrival of the nuclear submarine H.M.S. Vanguard to Plymouth Davenport Docks, a 62 year old granny was nicked for sitting down outside the base. After being held for six hours she was released, but as part of her bail conditions she is now banned from using the Tor Point ferry which is her mode of transport to get to Plymouth for shopping and the bank.
