Genoa, Italy
More than two dozen senior Italian riot officers were charged this week with using excessive force against anti-globalization protesters during the Group of Eight summit in July 2001. Among the accused is Francesco Gratteri, who is now Italy’s top anti-terrorism official. He and the others are to be tried for a surprise raid on a school where protesters from throughout Europe were sleeping. The police said they were acting on a tip that violent anarchists were hiding there. But the 93 arrested activists, 62 of whom had to be hospitalized, said the police burst in and began beating them, urinating on them, and tearing out their ear and lip piercings with pliers. During the raid, police confiscated weapons and Molotov cocktails, but two officers later admitted that those had been planted.
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