[Pressrelease] G8: Wave of arrests in Italy

[Gipfelsoli Presse]

[Gipfelsoli]

Press release 6th July 2009

* At least 21 activists in various cities affected
* Universities occupied for protest

At least 21 italian activists were arrested by political police "Digos" this morning.
16 were taken to prison, five have to stay under house arrest.

The police attack affected activists from Torino, Padova, Bologna and Naples, among
them known members of social centres. One of the arrested was followed by the police
up to L'Aquila, where the G8 summit should take place. In Naples several objects were
raided and searched.

Under the pretext of "preventive arrests" the police used the heavy protests that
were organized against the "G8 university summit" in may in Torino. The measures hit
members of the so called "Area Antagonista".

To protest and show solidarity, students occupied the rectorate of the university in
Venice, followed by an occupation at the Sapienza university in Rome.

"We will not go", explaines Francesco, one of the activists, "until our university is
not positioning itself towards the arrests".

Meanwhile the militarization of the "red zone" started. With army jets and
surveillance drones ("Predator") the police tries to control and handle protest and
resistance.
16 roads in the area of the summit are equipped with checkpoints of Carabinieri,
police, army and Guardia di Finanza. The road between the airport Preturo and the
police barracks Coppito, where the summit should start on wednesday, is blocked.

On friday the police arrested two men near Viterbo, that were accused of being member
of an "anarcho-insurrectionalist movement". They should have been planning to
sabotage trains by placing "horse shaped iron bars" at the railway cables to bring
the locomotives to halt.

On saturday 700 people demonstrated in Berlin against G8. The demonstration was
attacked by the police, at least four activistswere arrested. The organizers
critizise in a press release, that the police "searched the escalation".

Andrea Brigante, Matthias Monroy

Contact: 0160 953 14 023

News about protest and resistance in Italy:

* http://www.gipfelsoli.org/Home/L_Aquila_2009 (german and english)
* http://g8.italy.indymedia.org (italian and english)