NO TAV / Genoa / Naples / Other News

NO TAV
The 4 activists arrested on 3 July following the NO TAV protests in Chiomonte were all released a few days ago – the Tribunal decided the preventative arrests were an excessive measure and replaced it with home arrests for Gianluca, Salvatore, Roberto, and Marta. Support for their case doesn’t stop here though – the final goal is to see them completely free of all allegations and restrictions.

More arrests in Florence and Milan

Florence: just about a month after the events of May 4th (5 arrests and 22 banning orders among students involved in last autumn’s revolts) another raid on June 13th concluded with another 7 arrests and 9 banning orders. The measures applied to the arrestees are if possible even stricter than for the previous arrests: 6 people are under “home arrest” and can’t communicate with anyone apart from people they live with. An activist from Milan was arrested simply for taking part in the big solidarity demo against the arrests of May 4th. In total, more than 90 people are now under arrest or investigation, and this includes people of all ages, from secondary school to university students.

Spring has sprung

Here I am again, listening to these two “beautiful men” whilst I’m writing. I am sorry I haven’t written in a while, you must think I’m an incredibly lazy blogger…which, to be honest, wouldn’t be completely untrue…:-) The only excuse I can give is that what the British dare call “spring” – a space continuum of grey skies and nearly constant rain – makes me want to hibernate…but anyway, here we are…I thought I’d give you a little summary of what’s been going on in the past few weeks:

No arrest will stop this new spring

“Criminal organisation”, they say. We say: autonomy, conflict, direct action. “Dismantled”, they define it. We laugh at their delusions. It’s stating the obvious that this operation is the result of yet another frameup, so we won’t waste words on it. We’re not surprised that many of the comrades subjected to raids and forced to weekly report at police stations were never involved in Spazio Liberato 400 Colpi. These are comrades with whom we’ve shared many a struggle; political friendships that we’ve always wanted to cultivate, beyond the typical geopolitical borders – networks that have been able of producing conflict and that have brought a breath of fresh air to a pacified Florence.

Wave of arrests among radical student group in Florence

A second wave of arrests among radical circles has hit Italy again this morning. The operation, that was led by the police and secret service departments, has concluded with 22 banning orders and a total of 78 people under investigation in Florence, 5 under home arrest.