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What? You mean they weren't just trying to protect citizens from "violent anarchists?"
ROME (AP) - Italy's police chief acknowledged for the first time Wednesday that some police units used ``excessive'' force against demonstrators at last month's Group of Eight summit. He also suggested abuses may have taken place after protesters were in custody.
The admissions are likely to fuel accusations of police brutality that have poured in from Europe and elsewhere, embarrassing the new government of Premier Silvio Berlusconi and raising questions about how future summits can be controlled.
In his first appearance before a parliamentary fact-finding committee, Chief Gianni De Gennaro told lawmakers that efforts before the summit to weed out violent anarchists and prevent them from reaching the Genoa meeting were ``below expectations.''
Once the summit began, he said, ``the warlike conditions created by violent criminals led in some cases to an excess in the use of force from some units.''
Police were unable to quell riots during the July 20-22 G-8 meeting, which saw the first death of an anti-globalization protester, more than 200 injured, 240 people detained and millions of dollars in damage. Dozens of protesters remain in jail pending hearings, including at least four Americans and 16 members of an Austrian theater group police say were conspiring to destroy the city.
Hmmm...
[ 09-08-2001: Message edited by: Cherry Bomb ] |
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