Repression in Italy - Anarchists arrested for subversive association
Anarchists from Bologna | 17.07.2009 18:00 | Repression | Social Struggles
On July 3 2009 two anarchist comrades from Perugia, Sergio and Alessandro, were arrested and accused of having attempted to disrupt the railway Orte-Ancona. They were also charged with article 270 bis (conspiracy or subversive association).
On July 3 2009 two anarchist comrades from Perugia, Sergio and Alessandro, were arrested and accused of having attempted to disrupt the railway Orte-Ancona. They were also charged with article 270 bis (conspiracy or subversive association).
The house of another 40 anarchists were also searched and a number of charges dropped against the people involved.
The carabinieri claim they have neutralized a dangerous ‘anarchist-insurrectional cell, whose criminal plans were part of a wider subversive project that found expression in a number of revolutionary campaigns connected to those carried out by similar formations in Spain and Greece’.
What follows is the translation of a leaflet distributed in Bologna, which exposes the latest repressive episodes against anarchists and dissidents in Italy.
SOLIDARITY IS A WEAPON! LET’S POINT IT AT THE ENEMY!
A public opinion moulded by the media, mirror of a society modelled on the needs of a market in crisis. A mass of people indifferent to the horrors of war, to which it is so sadly accustomed that it applauds at the diffusion of military strategies on the internal front.
The rubbish dumps in Naples, the piazzas of various Italian towns, the camps in earthquake stricken L’Aquila, the concentration camps for immigrants without stay permit, the ‘protection of international leaders’: these are all emergency situations controlled by the army ‘engaged in functions of public order’ and are also clear signs of a society that is heading towards a totalitarian scenario.
It is not surprising that those who defend this desolate reality arms in hand also repress with great strength those who do not submit, who rebel, who revolt.
On June 10 six people are arrested between Sardinia, Rome and Genoa only because they are suspected of ‘preparing some big coup’ against the G8. All of them are accused of belonging to a criminal association with terrorist aims.
On July 3 at dawn 40 houses of anarchists mainly from the Lazio and Abruzzo regions are searched by the ROS (Special carabinieri unit). All anarchists are charged with article 270 bis. Sergio and Alessandro, two comrades from Perugia, are taken to prison and accused of having attempted to sabotage a high speed railway line.
On July 6 21 students engaged in struggles all over Italy are arrested and accused of having taken part and organized the clashes occurred in Turin in May during a demo.
In the evening of July 10 a road in Bologna is blocked with burnt tyres whereas in the surrounding streets two banks are damaged and writings are left on the walls. Soon afterwards two anarchist comrades, Robert and Mattia, are arrested and taken to La Dozza prison. Simultaneously an ‘anarchist hunt’ all over the town leads to dozens of anarchists been seized in the streets and taken to the police headquarters for hours.
These attacks are just the latest act of a very heavy repressive atmosphere: at the end of May an anarchist comrade in Bologna was sentenced to six-month imprisonment only for reacting to the nth stop by the police and other comrades were denounced for having fly posted posters (only to mentioned a few examples). In Ferrara, meanwhile, arrests, stop-and-search, intimidation by the cops are everyday events. For example, on July 9 in Ferrara six comrades were kept for hours in the police headquarters simply for some writings against the G8.
It is imperative to place the latest arrests in a wider context of social sterilisation so that along with the arrested comrades we can defend the practises for which they have been arrested. To hold back means to smooth the way for the advancing of the enemy; on the contrary to diversify and spread solidarity is the best way to re-launch the struggle.
Not by chance these arrests came just before the G8 summit in L’Aquila: those who govern us are sending an obvious intimidatory message: ‘Trouble to those who dare overstep the barrier of what is permitted’. And cynically they add: ‘You can express your dissent within the constituted power’. It is therefore quite clear what they fear.
ON THE SIDE OF THOSE WHO, CRUSHED UNDER AN OPPRESSIVE SKY, CHOOSE TO SOW TEMPEST
FREE EVERYBODY! FREE NOW!
The house of another 40 anarchists were also searched and a number of charges dropped against the people involved.
The carabinieri claim they have neutralized a dangerous ‘anarchist-insurrectional cell, whose criminal plans were part of a wider subversive project that found expression in a number of revolutionary campaigns connected to those carried out by similar formations in Spain and Greece’.
What follows is the translation of a leaflet distributed in Bologna, which exposes the latest repressive episodes against anarchists and dissidents in Italy.
SOLIDARITY IS A WEAPON! LET’S POINT IT AT THE ENEMY!
A public opinion moulded by the media, mirror of a society modelled on the needs of a market in crisis. A mass of people indifferent to the horrors of war, to which it is so sadly accustomed that it applauds at the diffusion of military strategies on the internal front.
The rubbish dumps in Naples, the piazzas of various Italian towns, the camps in earthquake stricken L’Aquila, the concentration camps for immigrants without stay permit, the ‘protection of international leaders’: these are all emergency situations controlled by the army ‘engaged in functions of public order’ and are also clear signs of a society that is heading towards a totalitarian scenario.
It is not surprising that those who defend this desolate reality arms in hand also repress with great strength those who do not submit, who rebel, who revolt.
On June 10 six people are arrested between Sardinia, Rome and Genoa only because they are suspected of ‘preparing some big coup’ against the G8. All of them are accused of belonging to a criminal association with terrorist aims.
On July 3 at dawn 40 houses of anarchists mainly from the Lazio and Abruzzo regions are searched by the ROS (Special carabinieri unit). All anarchists are charged with article 270 bis. Sergio and Alessandro, two comrades from Perugia, are taken to prison and accused of having attempted to sabotage a high speed railway line.
On July 6 21 students engaged in struggles all over Italy are arrested and accused of having taken part and organized the clashes occurred in Turin in May during a demo.
In the evening of July 10 a road in Bologna is blocked with burnt tyres whereas in the surrounding streets two banks are damaged and writings are left on the walls. Soon afterwards two anarchist comrades, Robert and Mattia, are arrested and taken to La Dozza prison. Simultaneously an ‘anarchist hunt’ all over the town leads to dozens of anarchists been seized in the streets and taken to the police headquarters for hours.
These attacks are just the latest act of a very heavy repressive atmosphere: at the end of May an anarchist comrade in Bologna was sentenced to six-month imprisonment only for reacting to the nth stop by the police and other comrades were denounced for having fly posted posters (only to mentioned a few examples). In Ferrara, meanwhile, arrests, stop-and-search, intimidation by the cops are everyday events. For example, on July 9 in Ferrara six comrades were kept for hours in the police headquarters simply for some writings against the G8.
It is imperative to place the latest arrests in a wider context of social sterilisation so that along with the arrested comrades we can defend the practises for which they have been arrested. To hold back means to smooth the way for the advancing of the enemy; on the contrary to diversify and spread solidarity is the best way to re-launch the struggle.
Not by chance these arrests came just before the G8 summit in L’Aquila: those who govern us are sending an obvious intimidatory message: ‘Trouble to those who dare overstep the barrier of what is permitted’. And cynically they add: ‘You can express your dissent within the constituted power’. It is therefore quite clear what they fear.
ON THE SIDE OF THOSE WHO, CRUSHED UNDER AN OPPRESSIVE SKY, CHOOSE TO SOW TEMPEST
FREE EVERYBODY! FREE NOW!
Anarchists from Bologna
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