Reaction
after witnessing attack on the Diaz school
(written 24/07/01) by women from PNP
A great sadness hangs over me and will remain for a long time. I’m sad
for those terrorized, abused and killed by the police; those robots
dictated to by a fascist leader who fucked over free speech and the
right to protest. Their aim was to make sure no one would come back
to fight again, in Genoa, in Italy, or anywhere, all 300 000 of us.
Friday they killed Carlo, shot dead in the head. The black block was
blamed, as a justification for more state violence. I was shocked, but
others more so, as they had to watch their friends being beaten, gassed
and shot at on the streets, no mercy shown.
But Saturday was the day death became real. 93 were arrested in the
school that night, after an hour of fearing for their lives. The building
was sealed off, the scum moved in, stretchers brought out. Over 60 were
hospitalized, only to receive more beatings and torture in jail.
Meanwhile we were silent across the road, in hiding or sitting still
on the floor in front of the police. Some were even on the phone and
Internet, spreading news of the raid, while the police watched, batons
ready, and lawyers‘ numbers were recited. Gas poured in through the
windows along with the shattering of glass and the sound of people screaming.
We were trapped at midnight for maybe half an hour, then later people
went outside. I was scared, so ran to look out of a window. Instantly
I just lost it and started shouting along with the others “assassini”
and “libera Genova”. Ambulance sirens filled the air along with our
chanting, and there were 100s of cops.
Finally the scum retreated, their work done. There was maybe 100 press,
two MPs, and the legal team. I think they were the only thing that stopped
us from getting a beating too. We ran into the school, anxious to see
if anyone was still alive in there, and to see what the cops had done.
There was no one left, but clothes and bags were scattered on all levels.
I could only manage walking up to the third floor, then had to leave
before I puked. Pools of blood stained the floor, walls and radiators.
Skulls had been smashed, no escape for those cowering in the corner.
Journalists from everywhere clamored to photograph every last speck
of blood, and searched for survivors to interview. But those who had
escaped the bloodbath just cried when they found the place where their
friends had been, the reality too horrible to talk about. I walked around
the building numb and sickened; it was all too much to handle. I found
my friends and we cried out our anger, the three of us huddled together,
shaking and weeping like lost children on the steps of the building.
It was as if they had all been killed, like on the news, while we just
looked on helpless. To think I was so scared when the cops raided the
IMC, when we were the lucky ones, computers and data was all that was
destroyed. Those who were staying in the school had no guns or weapons,
as the police later claimed. Only their bodies to defend them, which
were smashed up like dolls. Later (around 3am), we had to search through
all the belongings, to keep safe the personal items of those taken.
I found a bag splattered with blood. It felt wrong to go through their
things, but needed to be done. As we worked in silence, a girl just
sat down on the floor, unable to carry on. She had escaped with 10 other
people, but her friends had been taken. They had jumped out of a window
on the 1st floor, and hid under a tree until the helicopter flew off.
A man and child had also escaped, and fled to the convergence center
where safety in numbers saved them.
Now we hear there are 500 in hospital and 100 in prison, two people
charged with attempted murder (protesters, not police). This extreme
oppression will not silence us and state terrorism will not crush our
movement. It will only build the hatred people have of authority, and
the way capitalism puts profit before all. This ordeal has only made
me more determined to fight back against all oppression.
“The gate opened constantly, the people got out of the trucks and
were beaten up. They had to stand against the wall. Inside, they smashed
their heads against the wall. They urinated on some of them. A young
woman threw up blood while the chief of the GOM (special unit of the
department for domestic affairs) watched. They threatened the woman
with raping her with their clubs.” Italian police officer in an interview
with “La Republica”
