http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2636647.stm

Tuesday, 7 January, 2003, 19:16 GMT
Genoa police 'admit fabrication'

Some 200 people were hurt during the two-day summit
Italian media have been publishing transcripts of an
inquiry into the policing of the 2001 Genoa G8 summit
in which officers admit fabricating evidence against
protesters.

At the centre of the inquiry is a police raid on a school
being used as a dormitory by anti-globalisation
demonstrators, in which dozens of people were injured.

A senior officer, Pietro Troiani, reportedly admitted
under questioning that two petrol bombs allegedly
found at the school were planted by police to justify the
raid.

In fact, they had been found elsewhere in the city, in
the Corsa Italia, where protesters and police had
clashed earlier in the day.

Mr Troiani's lawyer later denied any involvement of his
client in fabricating evidence, saying he had only
handed the bombs to another police official, reports
say.

Police disciplined

Out of 93 people arrested at the school in the early
hours of 22 July, 72 suffered injuries, and all were later
released without charge.

"Now that the investigation into the G8 events is drawing to a close,
suspected truths which had already emerged are being
officially confirmed," reported the Italian television channel, Rai Uno.

At least 77 police officers have been under investigation for alleged
brutality, and three police chiefs have been moved to other jobs.

Transcripts of some of their interviews have been published in
Italian newspapers, including Italy's leading left-wing daily, La Repubblica,
and the Genoa daily newspaper, Il Secolo XIX.

Demonstrators said riot police beat them with clubs,
smashed windows and wrecked computers in the raid.

The BBC's Bill Hayton was among those who stood
outside the Diaz school, hearing the screams coming
from within, then watching bodies brought out on
stretchers.

When the police left he went in and saw blood on the
walls, floors and radiators of an upstairs room.

'Simulated' stabbing

One of the key witnesses is Michele Burgio, Mr Troiani's
driver, who admits to planting petrol bombs at the
school.

According to the media reports, Mr Troiani later
admitted to prosecutors that fabricating evidence was a
"silly thing" to do.

Attention is also focusing on a knife attack on one
police officer, Massimo Nucera.

A senior police chief, Franco Gratteri, head of the
Central Operations Services, is quoted as saying that
the stabbing was not carried out by protesters, but was
simulated.

Mr Gratteri says the "attack" could have been aimed at
justifying the excessive use of violence used by some
flying squads.

Hundreds of police and protesters were injured in street
battles during the summit, which was attended by
violent anarchists as well as peaceful protesters.

One protester died after being shot by police.