NP - Genoa: covered in blood

[David Morris]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,528180,00.html

The dark side of Italy's paramilitary force
Rory Carroll
Friday July 27, 2001
The Guardian

Rightwing thugs employed as Italian police officers were told by superiors 
they could brutalise with impunity the protesters detained in Genoa, it was 
claimed yesterday.
Officers seized the opportunity to batter, terrify and humiliate dozens of 
people after being assured they had the "cover" to do so, according to the 
Rome daily La Repubblica.

An anonymous police officer confirmed the accounts of torture given by the 
bruised, shaken protestors released from prison. "Unfortunately, it is all 
true."

The officer claimed that as last weekend's assaults intensified and victims 
passed out he asked colleagues to stop. He alleges that they told him: "We 
don't have to worry because we are covered."

He admitted his men had run amok in the protesters' headquarters but claimed 
that the alleged torture in the Bolzaneto holding centre was the work of 
GOM, the penitentiary police. He said GOM officers wore black gloves and 
boasted in advance of teaching the anarchists a lesson.

The three inquiries launched into the police violence will attempt to 
determine who gave the orders but there is no doubt that scores of police 
officers agreed to follow the orders.



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