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- Genoa Eyewitness Accounts
 GENOA:
EYEWITNESS ACCOUNTS
What follows is a day-by-day account of the G8 Summit protests
in Genoa.
The eyewitness accounts which follow come from SchNEWS people,
as well as others SchNEWS spoke to at the time - and we have to
admit that our Italian is poor (well try non-existant) so there
is admittedly an English-speaking-persons bias to this account.
Some of the eyewitnesses include: Ramor Ryan, Starhawk, Alec
Smart, el Flaco, Gday John, http://struggle.ws/wsm/
Rachel, Dave and others from UK
Indymedia
G8 SUMMIT GENOA, JULY 19-21, 2001
 The
Build-up...
By Wednesday, 18th July - the day before the first mass demonstration
- the Convergence centre in Piazza Kennedy was teeming with activity.
The sports grounds, parks and schools made available by the city
council - needed to accommodate the tens of thousands flooding into
the city - were filling up. The Genoa Social Forum (GSF - the umbrella
group who were overall organisers of the Anti-G8 event) was in full
swing: welcoming newcomers by handing out food, bottled water and
maps from under marquees; the schools on Via Cesare Battista were
buzzing with GSF volunteers - many holding legal or medical passes
- as well as Indymedia people who had one floor of the building.
Arriving at Genoa were a spectrum of the usual suspects - lefty,
anarchist, green, liberals and the rest from around Europe plus
Kurdish activists, Indians, Africans and many others. Also jetting
in were some high profile 'anti-capitalists' such as José
Bové, the McDonalds smashing French farmer, who was speaking
in the public forum talks around the topic of 'Another World Is
Possible' which had been running since Monday.
Wednesday night saw a big free concert by Manu Chao at the convergence
centre (below, right). But the stage, the food stalls (and prices
they were charging) and the white marquees gave the whole thing
the feel of a corporate beer festival rather than an anti-capitalist
protest. However it wasn't like this for long: by the end of the
summit, the centre was the scene of a police sweep involving tear
gas and truncheons. The road to the right was to have burning car
bodies and banks and other glass fronted shops smashed and burned.
The police conveniently had their depot next door, behind the row
of shipping containers.
Thursday July 19th - Migrants March:
A rundown of the various groups gathering in Genoa, after 100,000
turned out on day one for a non-violent mass demonstration.
Friday July 20th - The Point Of No Return.
A look at the various blocks out on the day of confrontation. While
the Black Block kick-off, Carlo Guiliani gets shot, Tutte Bianche
get gassed, and the Pink Block get caught in the crossfire.
Saturday July 21st - Sight For Sore Eyes.
200,000 come out for the 'International March', but tension is high
following the shooting, and then the Carabinieri split the march
in two, tear-gas and truncheon the convergence centre, and many
are injured,
Midnight Saturday July 21st - Dark
Night: GSF Building Raid. The Carabinieri raid the Genoa Social
Forum and hundreds of sleeping protesters are hospitalised and arrested
in state sanctioned thuggery.
And At The End Of The Day...
in conclusion
See also story about the Raids on
Indymedia Centres in Italy in February 2002
____________________________________________________________________
 Recommended
Reading:
ON FIRE
Featuring accounts and reflections on the events in Genoa by a
range of contributors who were out on the street and part of it.
Available (unless it's sold out) for only £3.00 from AK Distribution
or Active Distribution
One Off Press ISBN 1 902593 54 5
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