Article

Repression

resistance and dirty tricks in Italy

In Bologna a squatted anarchist-centre (Laboratoria Anarchico Paglietta) was evicted on May 25th, 1999. Inside two people were sleeping, Andrea and Sara. The police, together with the media, were looking for Andrea, a well-known anarchist luckily he escaped through a hidden hole behind a wardrobe. Sara was arrested for obstructing the police and was put into jail and then under house arrest, because she is pregnant.

All of this started because in Bologna a DS-office had been burned during the war. DS is the left party in power in Italy, and almost 30 offices had been burned war all over Italy during the war. In the squat the police had found a poster signed "Individualita Anarchiche", used to sign posters in Italy for years, but in Bologna some military tanks had been burned some months ago, leaving a flyer signed "Individualita Anarchiche". So the police invented a new conspiracy of 18 people. In the end there were about 30 raids around Bologna, seven warrants were put out and 11 people were told to report to police stations daily. 16 of the these 18 people were already hiding, as they realised what was going on. A guy named Tommaso was put into jail, and Sara was already at her home. Her charge is no longer "obstructing the police", but "forming a subversive organisation", which is really serious accusation in Italy.

After a month or so there was a successful application to the "Court of Justice" as there was no proof for the charges. Now these 18 people are free on remand, but the charges have not been dropped! The accusations are of squatting different places, flyposting, creating one disturbance in a square and a theft, not for burning DS offices or tanks !The activists had already been charged for the former and were awaiting sentences. So the "subversive organisation" is only an invention to allow heavier sentences.

In the past few years we have seen the "ORAI" conspiracy, [see BF 206 and onwards] the "Gray Wolves" in Val Di Susa [BF 215 ] and now this. The first didn't work, the second managed to kill Edo and Sole. Don't let them get away with this.

Innsbruck ABC

The above must be seen in the context of widespread criminalisation of militant grassroots opposition movements in Italy. This is nothing new. The huge social movements of the 70s were smashed by dirty tricks and criminalisation. As another Italian militant writes:

So, it's again repression against the social centres. It's not unexpected, because we learnt that as soon as you really bother the authorities they unleash all kinds of hounds and servants. But will what happened take us back to the '80s: cold war, secret services and terrorism ? Just in this last month, June, we had 12 people sued on April 25 in Milan for reclaiming the streets, demonstrating against the USA consulate and burning the Italian flag hanging outside a police station: they are accused of 16 "crimes".

On April 25, the social centre "Askatasuna" in Turin was completely smashed down by a dirty squad of anti-riot police.

The Mayor of Milan declared that in the grassroots trade unions which promoted the general strike against the Kosovo war, involving more than 1 million workers, there are "signs of terrorists committees". Interrogated later by the police, the Major could not specify the name of a single terrorist.

Mr D'Antona, shy and dutiful bureaucrat working for the Ministry of Work, was killed in Rome by a supposed "Red Brigade" group. The first analyses on the communication claiming the murder shows a very different style from the old Red Brigade style, and the famous five tops star is different from the traditional one.

7 arrests in Naples in late July for an unauthorised demonstration by unemployed people. They were released a few days later. At the beginning of August warrants were issued for 40 Milan militants for "Illegal association aimed to terrorist actions".

What next ?

All this shows a very simple thing: they are scared. So, whoever opposes power from beneath, from the people's point of view, must bear the label of terrorist—the general strike against the Kosovo war must have rang some alarm in many important heads. The Social Centres are not terrorists. So the authorities produce a "spectacular murder" to prove that terrorists still exist amongst the militants. Against this, all the squats and Social Centres in Milan will organize in September a large mass demonstration, in September, possibly a national demo, peaceful, colourful and as united as possible.