Italian Authorities Used Neo-Nazis to Attack and Discredit G8 Protesters in Genoa


From Il Secolo XIX, a daily newspaper published in Genoa, 1 September 2001:

EX-CHIEF OF POLICE COLUCCI SAYS: 600 NAZI INFILTRATORS WERE IN GENOA

He confirmed the same news he had denied one month ago.

Camouflaged neo-nazis among the peaceful protesters at the Genoa Social Forum. Yet another resounding revelation, including even a precise figure: six-hundred infiltrators. The former Questore [Chief of Police] Colucci -- whom the Ministry of Internal Affairs sacked after the July 20-21 riots -- made these revelations during a 7-hour-long interview in front of the Parliamentary Committee investigating G8-related events. These revelations officialy confirm the presence of groups of far-rightist provocateurs. The GSF had sounded the alarm even before the days of the demonstrations. Ten days before the summit, Il Secolo XIX published confidential police files on potential infiltrators.

For the first time, Colucci was explicit about neo-nazis. He answered a question by PRC [Reformed Communist Party] Congresswoman Graziella Mascia: "You received intelligence reports on ultra-right groups planning to join the demonstrations. Why did you not stop them?" The former Chief of Police said: "As far as I know, the six-hundred ultra-right infiltrators did not take part in violent action in the territory."

"Six hundred ultra-right infiltrators": these few words open our eyes to a wider landscape. The previous police report on the [anti-globalization] movement's street action, which Colucci himself delivered to the officers in charge, contained no such reference. The report is dated July 12th [2001], and the Committee has cited it several times. Not only did it provide the police with the exact number of Black Bloc activists coming to town -- there is a reference to "500 Britons" -- it also declared that "Some Turin-based members of Forza Nuova [the most popular Italian Neo-fascist party] will form groups of 25-30 trustworthy militants in order to infiltrate the so-called Tute Bianchi [White Overalls]. These groups will attack the police with cold steel and discredit the left-wing."

Nevertheless, on July 25th, Colucci himself dismissed dozens of eye-witness accounts about the presence of nazis, right-wing skinheads and hooligans. He said: "There is absolutely no evidence that far-rightists infiltrated the demonstrations. That report was prior to the G8 summit and was about potential risks such as infiltrations. Nothing like that actually took place." Official denials were sent out by ultra-right groups Forza Nuova and Fronte Nazionale. And yet Biagio Cacciola, the leader of the neo-fascist group, FUAN, admitted that 300 of "our boys" were in the streets of Genoa. Furthermore, freelance journalist Mauro Bocci interviewed and photographed a young British nazi in the [fake] Black Bloc nicknamed "Doggy" [Liam "Doggy" Stevens, a 26-year-old nazi from Birmingham, UK, seen committing acts of provocation at the Via Canaregis], who told him: "I don't give a shit about the G8. Oor Italian brothers invited us and we came!"

Moreover, during the demonstrations, a social worker from Emilia-Romagna told Vittorio Agnoletto [spokesperson for the GSF] that, after the riots, she had seen some of the people whom she had assisted on two coaches, back in the company of their neo-nazi fellows. According to the GSF, sixty neo-nazis camped at Valbisagno (where members of the Black Blocs also camped). Some WWF members spotted a group of AC Inter tifosi approaching a demo. They wore fascist ornaments on their jackets, such as swastikas, celtic crosses, etc etc.

However, the most incredible news came from the Bolzaneto police station: the cameras owned by two German men under arrest, both of whom were charged with being part of the Black Bloc and are still in jail, contained pictures of the Genoa riots and . . . pictures of Nazi rallies that recently took place in Germany.

Graziella Mascia said: "I asked Colucci why he did not warn the GSF about the presence of nazi infiltrators. He replied that it was not his duty. Now it is clear that he certainly underestimated the danger, either purposefully or not. Nobody was interested in protecting the citizens who were going to demonstrate. They only thought of the Red Zone."

[Translated from the Italian by Wu Ming and proofread by NOT BORED!]


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