Italian Prime Minister Mr Silvio Berlusconi yesterday promised there would be no government cover-up regarding allegations of police brutality at last weekend's G8 summit in Genoa.
Mr Berlusconi's remarks came in the face of mounting concern, both in Italy and abroad, that police in Genoa used brutal force, especially with those detained.
Ironically, even as Mr Berlusconi was reporting to parliament on the outcome of the G8 summit, the main Italian anti-globalisation protest movement, the Genoa Social Forum (GSF), confirmed it would sue the Prime Minister for "defamation". The GSF is taking a case against Mr Berlusconi because of his allegation that the protest movement covered up violent, anarchist elements, prominent in the violence that saw one person killed and 231 injured last weekend.
"If there were abuses, excesses and violence, which may come to light in internal investigations by the Interior Ministry and the judiciary, there will be no cover-up for those who have violated the law . . . But I think we can all agree that there should be no confusion between those who attacked and those who were attacked," Mr Berlusconi told the Senate yesterday.
Expressing his sorrow about the death of 23-year-old Mr Carlo Giuliani last week, Mr Berlusconi went on to deny his government's direct responsibility for decisions taken by the police forces at the summit, pointing out that all the current police chiefs, both local and national, had been appointed by the previous centre-left government.
Even though Mr Berlusconi's centre-right coalition has been in office for two months, he still maintained he could do little to change the broad outlines of the security arrangements, such as the infamous "Red Zone", already set up by his predecessors.
Mr Berlusconi's explanations failed to convince either the centre-left opposition or the GSF.
The opposition has demanded both a parliamentary inquiry into the G8 violence and the resignation of Interior Minister Mr Claudio Scajola, but Mr Berlusconi has so far refused both demands.
The GSF, the umbrella protest group that brought together the majority of Italian anti-globalisation movements, yesterday reiterated its condemnation of police behaviour in Genoa. Speaking to foreign media in Rome, GSF spokesman Mr Vittorio Agnoletto, argued that the police, rather than attacking violent, "Black Bloc" anarchist elements, had preferred to lash out at unarmed, peaceful protesters.
Furthermore, he bitterly condemned a police raid on two GSF centres in Genoa last Saturday night, when protesters were reportedly beaten as they lay sleeping in temporary schoolroom accommodation.
After that raid, police claimed they had found black uniforms, iron bars, heavy sticks and knives, thus suggesting that the GSF had covered up "Black Bloc" operatives. At a subsequent news conference, however, the police revealed a limited amount of dangerous weaponry and a large number of harmless Swiss pocket knives.