GENOA (yellowtimes.org) — Last night the Italian Independent Media Center (IMC) (http://italia.indymedia.org/), had been stormed by police in the building that hosted the IMC. Police used tear gas and batons.
According to the IMC, police entered the IMC building and beat anyone who was in their path. After securing the IMC building, the police searched all reporters inside and confiscated mini disk videos and disks, searching many peoples bags. Their reasoning for taking the merchandise was that they saw a lot of black clothes in the room.
“They just went bang into the building — people screamed,” said eyewitness Caroline Terzaghi, 38, a protest organizer. “They made people lie on the floor, they beat us up, they were throwing computers around, they were hitting everyone. There was blood everywhere.”
After police left the scene, IMC reporters discovered the beatings that took place in the school across the street. The school had been a safe space for people to sleep during the protests. Apparently, the protesters offered some resistance, to which the police used massive violence, injuring 40 and seriously injuring 20. According to Bill Hayton at the BBC, who was across the street at the time, 3 left unconscious. Bill Hayton also stated that the police had no warrant and were not allowed to enter the building.
After police left, the walls were splattered with blood and people were being taken out in stretchers (see picture). The police took all available passports and wallets and diaries from peoples bags, according to reports The New York Times stated that 61 people were taken to the hospital after the strike.
According to IMC reporters, one police officer held a United Kingdom reporter by his neck while the other police beat him with clubs, leaving him unconscious in the street in a pool of blood.
The exact quote from the IMC reporter who remarked on the inside of the nearby building follows: “There was thick dark blood all up the walls, over the floor and at the bottom of stairs. It looked like several people had been beaten while on the ground from the blood patters low down on the walls. The scene was horrible. Even the ambulance staff were obviously shocked.”
