2001 Raid on Armando Diaz

The raid on the "Armando Diaz" School took place during the 27th G8 meeting in Genoa in 2001 in the district of Albaro, Genoa. The school building was the temporary headquarters of the Genoa Social Forum, led by Vittorio Agnoletto. A nearby building, housing the anti-globalization organization Indymedia and lawyers affiliated with the Genoa Social Forum, was also raided. On July 21, 2001, shortly before midnight, mobile divisions of the State Police of Genoa, Rome and Milan attacked the buildings, with the operational support of some battalions of the Carabinieri.

The police indiscriminately attacked the building's occupants, resulting in the arrest of 93 protesters; 61 were seriously injured and were taken to hospital, three of them were in a critical condition and one in a coma. Prisoners taken to a temporary detention facility in Bolzaneto were tortured and humiliated before being released. The raid resulted in the trial of 125 policemen, including managers and supervisors, for what was termed a beating from "Mexican butchery" by the assistant chief Michelangelo Fournier. However, none of the accused police officers was punished, due to delays in the investigation and incompleteness of Italian laws under which torture is not recognised as a crime.

Prior to the raid, there had been several clashes between demonstrators and security forces. Several protesters were sleeping in the school. The numbers and designation of the security forces involved in the raid are still unknown, as they wore ski masks to hide their identities. The Court of Appeal of Genoa stated that "346 policemen, in addition to 149 Carabinieri officers were involved in the raid of the school buildings."

The raid is the subject of the 2012 film Diaz – Don't Clean Up This Blood where the attack and subsequent torture of detainees is recreated. On April 7, 2015, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Italy had violated the European Convention on Human Rights at the 2001 G8 and ordered compensation for a protester beaten by the police.

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Wikipedia