2010-05-21

21.5.2010 Genua -- Ontario -- Heiligendamm -- Strasbourg/ Baden-Baden

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Top Italian policemen get up to five years for violent attack on G8 protesters

Sentences suggest appeal judges accept that 2001 night raid when many were savagely beaten was planned and covered up

Some of Italy’s most senior police officers have been given jail sentences of up to five years for what the prosecution called a “terrible” attack on demonstrators at the 2001 G8 meeting in Genoa and an attempted, subsequent cover-up.

Victims of the attack, who included several Britons, expressed delight at the ruling, which overturned many of the conclusions reached by the judges at the original trial in 2008. Mark Covell, aged 42 from Reading, who was beaten into a coma, said: “This is beyond my wildest expectations. The Italian judiciary has recognised the truth of what happened. Human rights have finally been respected here. Italians will now recognise their cops do not have immunity. But it has taken nine years, and I was at the end of my tether.”

It is highly unlikely that any of the officers will actually go behind bars. The case has taken so long to reach this stage that most of the offences of which they were accused have since been ‘timed out’ by statutes of limitations.

More: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/19/g8-italian-police-sentenced

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Knast für Prügelpolizisten

Von Micaela Taroni, Rom

Mit Jubel und Freudenrufen haben Globalisierungsgegner am Dienstag in Genua das Urteil über die Polizisten begrüßt, die wegen der schweren Übergriffe auf Demonstranten beim G-8-Gipfeltreffen 2001 in der norditalienischen Hafenstadt angeklagt waren. Fast neun Jahre nach der brutalen Mißhandlung von Protestierenden durch die Polizei hoben die Richter in dem Berufungsprozeß die milden Urteile und Freisprüche aus der Vorinstanz auf und verurteilten 25 der einst 29 Angeklagten zu hohen Haftstrafen. Zu ihnen gehört auch die damalige Leitung der Einsatzkräfte. In der ersten Instanz war die Hälfte der 29 Angeklagten noch freigesprochen worden.

More: http://www.jungewelt.de/2010/05-20/059.php

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Gewalt auf G8-Gipfel in Genua: Polizisten müssen in den Knast

Knapp neun Jahre nach der Tat sind die Polizisten und ihre Vorgesetzten wegen der Schlägerorgie auf dem G8-Gipfel von Genua im Sommer 2001 verurteilt worden. VON MICHAEL BRAUN

Haftstrafen von drei bis fünf Jahren für 25 der 27 angeklagten Polizisten: Mit diesem Urteil endete in Genua das Berufungsverfahren rund um den nächtlichen Sturm auf die von Globalisierungskritikern als Schlafstätte genutzte Scuola Diaz während des G-8-Gipfels von 2001.

Mit einem überaus brutalen Einsatz hatten am 21. Juli 2001 etwa 150 Ordnungshüter den Schlussstrich unter die mehrtägige Gewaltorgie der Polizei in Genua gezogen. Nachdem einen Tag vorher am Rand der Demonstrationen der 23-jährige Carlo Giuliani von einem Carabiniere erschossen worden war, drang ein großes Polizeiaufgebot in der Nacht in die Schule ein und knüppelte die meisten der dort Schlafenden zusammen. 93 Personen wurden als angebliche Angehörige des “Schwarzen Blocks” verhaftet; 82 von ihnen waren teilweise schwer verletzt, mit Knochenbrüchen, ausgeschlagenen Zähnen, Lungenperforationen und Schädeltraumata.

Die Polizei legitimierte seinerzeit den Einsatz mit gefälschten Beweismitteln. So wurden im Eingangsbereich der Schule zwei Molotowcocktails “gefunden”; ein Video zeigte später, dass die Polizisten sie praktischerweise selbst mitgebracht hatten.

More: http://www.taz.de/1/politik/europa/artikel/1/polizisten-muessen-in-den-knast

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Diaz Sentence 18th May 2010

On 18th May 2010 the court in Genoa sentenced 25 members of police authorities.

In the 2nd instance the court found also high officials guilty that were discharged before in 2008.

Find the sentence as pdf here: http://www.gipfelsoli.org/service/get_file%3Ffile=diaz_dispositivo.pdf

More: http://www.processig8.org/Udienza_018_Diazap.html

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Italy backs convicted Genoa G8 police

Italian officials say they have full confidence in policemen convicted by an appeals court over violence at the G8 summit in Genoa in 2001.

The officers, who were sentenced to up to five years in prison, are to remain in their posts pending a final appeal.

In an original trial in November 2008, 13 officers were convicted, while 16 – including the most senior officers – were acquitted.

The case concerns a raid in which dozens of protesters were injured.

“These men continue to have the full confidence of the security services and the interior ministry,” said Alfredo Mantovano, the interior ministry’s under-secretary.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/europe/10132208.stm

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ANTI-CAPITALIST CONVERGENCE 2010

Against the crisis here! Against the crisis everywhere! Let’s unite!
ATTACK THE G20 – TORONTO, JUNE 25-26-27 2010

Montreal, February 2010 – We won’t pay for their crisis! A new anti-capitalist alliance calls for mobilization against the “Group of 20 (G20)” summit attended by leaders of the planet’s 20 largest economies next June 25, 26 and 27.

Under the auspices of this type of criminal institution, the rulers of this world decide how to perpetuate the current system of economic and political domination to benefit a handful of rich bankers, financiers, businessmen and politicians, all over a few bites of caviar. In the meanwhile, they keep exploiting and starving the remaining 99 percent of humanity, repressing populations and groups that resist, destroying millions of lives with impunity and devastating the planet.

In Canada, various governments have taken advantage of the economic crisis to further slash social programs, to raise user fees, to transfer the burden of unpaid work to women and to make the poor and the working class pay for the debts that they’ve incurred by handing out subsidies to businesses, whose bosses have been stuffin their pockets laughing. As thousands of workers lose their jobs or their pensions, as women and undocumented migrants are pushed further into precariousness, as hundreds of migrants live in fear of repression and deportation, the ruling class still goes out of its way to convince the populace that it has some sacrifices left to make!

More: http://www.clac2010.net/call

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Direct Action in Ottawa

The Vancouver Olympic games are over, but a torch is still burning.

Download Video: http://ottawa.indymedia.org/media/2010/05//11234.avi (15MB)

Royal Bank Canada was a major sponsor of the recently concluded 2010 Olympics on stolen indigenous land. This land was never legally ceded to colonial British Columbia. This hasn’t stopped the government from assuming full ownership of the land and its reMores for the benefit of its corporate masters and to the detriment of aboriginal peoples, workers and the poor of the province. The 2010 Winter Olympics increased the homelessness crisis in Vancouver, especially the Downtown Eastside, Kanada’s poorest urban area. Since the Olympics bid, homelessness in Vancouver has nearly tripled while condominium development in the Downtown Eastside is outpacing social housing by a rate of 3:1. The further criminalization and displacement of those living in extreme poverty continues apace.

More: http://ottawa.indymedia.org/en/2010/05/11233.shtml

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Ottawa police have suspects in firebombing

By Gary Dimmock and Tony Spears, Ottawa Citizen

OTTAWA — Police detectives investigating Tuesday’s bold firebombing of an uptown Ottawa bank have now identified suspects, all of whom live in Ottawa and are linked to an anti-establishment network.

The firebombing by anarchist group FFFC-Ottawa was filmed and posted online, and seasoned detectives have collected trace evidence from the burnt-out Royal Bank of Canada branch.

The police department has also retrieved security video from storefronts along Bank Street and First Avenue, including high-definition images.

The homegrown terrorists, who attacked the bank because it sponsored the Vancouver Olympics, made their getaway in an SUV.

They are believed to comprise a group of at least four people, linked to an online independent media site and an anti-establishment network which organizes protests against G8 and G20 Summits, unfair trade and government cuts to welfare.

More: http://www.vancouversun.com/Ottawa+police+have+suspects+firebombing/3054901/story.html

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G20 will give homeless the heave-ho

Security forces must keep the downtown core clear

By TOM GODFREY

Some homeless men and women will be moved out of downtown as part of a security crackdown by Toronto Police for the G20 summit next month, officers and protesters say.

Members of 10 anti-summit groups — including anti-poverty, gender, environment and native activists — vow to wreak havoc when the world leaders meet June 26-27 at the Metro Convention Centre. The G8 takes place in Huntsville June 25-26.

The groups have refused to reveal their tactics or if they’re linked to a cell that firebombed a Royal Bank in Ottawa Tuesday.

John Clark of the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty said some homeless have complained of being pressured by police to move from the area where the summit is taking place.

More: http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2010/05/20/14025981.html

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Cops ask truckers to act as 'look outs' during summits

TORONTO -- Federal police are urging truckers to report irregular activity or other suspicious behavior in the run up to the G8 and G20 Summits in Huntsville and Toronto in late June.

The RCMP met with the Canadian Trucking Alliance to discuss the valuable role carriers and drivers can play in assisting security during these events, which take place June 25, 26 and 27.

CTA says RCMP officials are appealing to all Canadian carriers to keep an eye out for and immediately report suspicious behavior, including thefts, as potentially dangerous activities aimed at the G8 and G20 Summits.

More: http://www.todaystrucking.com/news.cfm?intDocID=24013

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If CSIS comes knocking

[français: www.peoplescommission.org/fr/csis/whattodo-csis.php]
[Arabic: www.peoplescommission.org/en/csis/whattodo-csis_ar.php]
[español: www.peoplescommission.org/en/csis/whattodo-csis_es.php]

A community advisory from the People’s Commission Network

Since the fall of 2009 there have been ongoing visits by members of the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS) to various local social justice organizers and activists. These visits are in addition to CSIS’ ongoing harassment of targeted communities. This community advisory is in response to those visits.

Visits by CSIS and the RCMP to activists are nothing new; they have taken place before around specific events or projects. In general, these visits can have different purposes: they are not only about information-gathering but can also be attempts to create or exploit divisions between activists, plant misinformation, intimidate, develop psychological profiles, and recruit informers.

If CSIS comes knocking, we strongly encourage total and complete non-cooperation. A CSIS visit to your home or workplace will be a surprise, but we encourage you to be ready to not cooperate with them in any way, which means not speaking with them or listening to them.

More: http://www.gipfelsoli.org/Repression/Ontario_2010/8380.html

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DLR maps for G8 Summit in Heiligendamm, June 6 to 8, 2007

From June 6 to 8, the G8 leaders met for their annual summit in Heiligendamm, Germany. The area of Heiligendamm was spaciously protected for security reasons and the inner security zone was confined by a fence. Many governmental and non-governmental organisations were involved in the logistical organisation and implementation of safety and security for both the official summit and the protest activities.

In the context of research activities for satellite based event monitoring, ZKI of DLR processed and analysed satellite data of June 01 and June 07, 2007, before and during the G8-Summit. The satellite based information was transmitted in near real-time to the local THW headquarters near Heiligendamm via satellite communication. DLR used the satellite communication that was provided through the ESA research project ARTES 3, to collect experiences in the interaction between satellite image analysis and satellite communication. These experiences will be integrated in particular in the EU research project LIMES.

More: http://www.zki.dlr.de/applications/2007/heiligendamm/135_en.html

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NATO summit in Strasbourg/France

On April 4 2009, the leaders of the 26 NATO countries met in Kehl and Strasbourg. Extensive security measures were being implemented in both cities. In the course of the ARGOS project, satellite images of both cities on that day were taken to provide examples for the possibilities and limitations of satellitebased analyses of large-scale events.

More: http://www.zki.dlr.de/applications/2009/germany/170_en.html