Chapter 6 : Revolts in Turin, Milan and Bologna

REVOLTS IN TURIN, MILAN AND BOLOGNA

In May 2005, five anarchists are arrested in Lecce following the struggle against the local detention camp and three immigrants are killed by the police in Turin. During the same period, uprisings and protests break out in the immigration detention camp of Corso Brunelleschi (Turin) and in that of Via Corelli (Milan), both run by the Red Cross.

TURIN

April 14. Writings appear and banners are hung in Turin in solidarity with immigrants and against detention camps.

April 15. Itinerant intervention at Porta Palazzo market (Turin) to inform the inhabitants about the hunger strike undertaken by immigrants imprisoned in Via Corelli camp in Milan.

April 18. A huge banner in solidarity to the struggles in Via Corelli camp (Milan) is unfurled during the marathon in Turin.

April 22. A few passengers on a bus distribute leaflets denouncing Gtt, the public transport society, and its collaboration with police concerning the deportation of immigrants. When two ticket inspectors appear, a ‘loud voice’ protest takes place: protesters noisily alert the passengers that they have arrived. Some immigrants without tickets succeed in escaping, and the ticket collectors get furious. In this way the campaign ‘Trip ticket collectors up!’ starts. Disruptions against ticket collectors carry on for a few weeks all over the town.

May 1. The prisoners in Corso Brunelleschi camp start a hunger strike, but no one outside knows about this. As they are not supported, the prisoners interrupt the protest the following day. In spite of the continuous raids against immigrants in Turin, the camp is never filled to full capacity (70 people) because the prisoners of the camp are quickly deported.

May 7. Aosta. Digos officers (Italian political police) stop and identify two anarchists and accuse them of having put up posters against the Italian Red Cross. In the following days the inspector of Red Cross in the area sue the two anarchists for ‘libel through written material’.

May 20. At dawn, police storm a gypsy camp in the northern suburb of the town. On the grounds that they have to take a census of the inhabitants, they gather about 20 people and move them to the police station. 14 of them are deported.

In the evening, a boy from Senegal who had just arrived in Italy without papers is chased along the banks of the river Po by the cops during a raid in Valentino Park. The boy hides on the shore, but he slips into the water and drowns.

May 11. In the evening police stop a car with four young men from Senegal on board. One of them runs away, another two jump out of the car. The fourth hesitates and when a policeman gets close to him, a gunshot is fired. The young man dies shortly afterwards.

May 12. The houses of five comrades are raided in Valle d’Aosta and the Piemonte area, in connection with operation ‘Nottetempo’ in course in Lecce.

May 14. A great number of meetings are quickly held at Porta Palazzo market to inform people of the death of Mamadou and Cheik, the two boys from Senegal killed by the police, and to invite everyone to take part in a gathering organized for the afternoon against police terror, deportations, the arrests in Lecce and the Gtt transport company.

As Italians and people from Senegal intervene in great numbers, the gathering quickly turns into a spontaneous march through the streets of Turin. The banner leading the demo says: ‘Carabinieri and police: killers’. There is no sign of parties and organizations during the march, just a lot of rage shared by everybody. Newspapers, when they do not keep silent, describe the march as a peaceful demo organized by the community from Senegal, disturbed by the ‘usual insurrectionist-anarchists’ who try to start fights. From that moment on, all the dailies in Turin, with very few exceptions, will sing the same song ad nauseam and border on the ridiculous: they claim that immigrants have nothing to complain about, it is subversive anarchists that are creating tension.

May 16. In the afternoon, a street meeting opens a debate on how to defend oneself from the abuse and violence of the police in various areas of the town.

May 18. Writings and posters against deportations and police terror appear in San Salvario area. Some of the posters also incite to self-defense against the police.

May 19. During the night, the prisoners in the detention camp revolt, setting to fire mattresses and destroying everything they find in the building. There are many self-inflicted wounds. Police intervene and a hunger strike is begun. When a prisoner learns of his imminent deportation, he breaks a window and swallows pieces of glass. He spends the morning in hospital and misses the plane destined to deport him. When he returns to the camp he is beaten and put in isolation.

At the end of the morning, Radio Black Out (a radio of the movement) spreads the news. A friend of some of the radio reporters, in fact, Tareq has been held in the camp for a few days. He listens to the radio inside the camp, making his inmates listen to it too.

Around 6pm, about 150 people gather outside the camp. Inside, the prisoners start beating on the bars, whereas outside supporters answer by beating stones on pylons and road signs. Someone climbs up the fence and hangs a large banner, the prisoners start shouting. Meantime Matilde Provera, MP of Rifondazione Comunista, goes into the camp, inviting everybody to keep quiet when she leaves. As prisoners ignore her, demonstrators shout through a megaphone that the woman doesn’t represent anyone and that there is no reason to keep quiet.

A few demonstrators manage to open a small hole in the wall with the help of sticks. After a few moments’ hesitation, anti-riot cops attack. It seems that during the fight a Digos officer is hit in the face with shit. Demonstrators split after a while, and a big group of them march towards the nearest bus garage to make drivers aware of the responsibilities of Gtt society concerning the deportation of immigrants. As the gathering ends, a few comrades are stopped by Digos police and one of them, Giovanni, is arrested and accused of causing ‘serious violence’ and ‘injuries’.

May 20. In the detention camp the hunger strike, undertaken by 68 out 70 prisoners, continues. Most immigrants are also on thirst strike. A few immigrants who had inflicted wounds on themselves the day before and ended up in hospital are taken back to the camp.

May 21. At dawn, inmates in Corso Brunnelleschi detention camp revolt again in protest against the deportation of one of them; many threaten they will commit suicide, some swallow batteries and pieces of glass. An immigrant cut his abdomen so badly that he must be stitched urgently on the spot. Police and Red Cross decide to release him in order to avoid more serious consequences.

In the afternoon, a gathering in solidarity with the immigrants’ struggle and for Giovanni’s release is organized in front of the detention camp. The gathering lasts for a few hours; a group of immigrants manage to reach the roof and communicate with the protesters. From inside the detention center, someone throws out a shoe containing a case file belonging to a prisoners affected with tuberculosis. Many other stories of prisoners who should be released but are kept prisoner by the Red Cross come to light. Meanwhile, Giovanni is released.

May 23. The detention camp is strictly watched by police, and anti-riot cops constantly patrol the entrance. In the afternoon, Matilde Provera pays another visit to the prisoners who talk about her as ‘the one who defends the cops’. When she comes out, she denounces the terrible hygiene conditions in the camp, ignoring the one and only thing the immigrants in struggle are asking for: ‘freedom!’.

In the evening, a meeting is held in San Salvario square market in memory of the two boys from Senegal killed by police, and to carry on the discussion about self-defense against police terror. Many people, Italians and foreigners, take part in the debate, in spite of the huge presence of cops surrounding the area.

May 24. Eight Romanian men held in the camp are deported.

May 25. At dawn, seven Moroccan men are woken up by police and informed that the plane for their deportation is ready. In a few minutes the news reaches the houses of a few comrades, immediately followed by Digos cops. Ten houses are searched as well as ‘Porfido’ documentation center. Among the deported immigrants there is Tareq, who manages to contact his friends in Turin once again. He lets them know that he was taken to prison and that all his money was stolen when he was deported to his country. During the searches, police seize 1500 copies of a leaflet denouncing Gtt. The search, however, is officially the beginning of an investigation concerning an explosive device sent to the metropolitan police in San Salvario area the morning before, an action that is subsequently claimed by the Fai (Informal anarchist federation).

In the afternoon, a demo in the center of the town reaches the ‘Olympic Store’. Here demonstrators inform people about the relation between the effective management of the Olympic games and police terror brought about against immigrants in the town.

Meantime in the northern suburb of Turin, police surround a building inhabited by immigrants and storm the flats. Eddy, a Nigerian boy without papers who had just arrived in Turin to see his girlfriend, takes refuge on the eaves in order to flee from the cops. He falls down and dies. He is the fourth immigrant to die in fifteen days. Two girls, the only witnesses of the accident, are taken to Corso Brunelleschi camp. Determined and furious, Nigerian people in the area fight police in the square.

May 26. In the afternoon, various Turin leftist organi-sations gather outside the Prefecture in protest against police violence. Nigerian people are very angry, but in the end a delegation goes into the building to talk to the Prefect.

In the evening a debate, ‘Towns and concentration camps’ is held to discuss the struggle against deportations in Turin, Lecce and Milan.

May 27. In the morning, a demo is held in front of the Moroccan embassy, which is responsible for deportation of Moroccan immigrants along with the Italian State. After a few hours, demonstrators move to the place where, on November 2004, Latifa Saidi, a Moroccan girl, died after falling from a roof in the San Salvario area while attempting to escape from a control by metropolitan police.

In the afternoon, a ceremony is held in memory of Eddy, attended also by comrades. The tension is high, the nearby road is blocked and there is the real risk of a battle with police.

Leaflets calling for a demo the following day against police violence are distributed in various parts of the town.

May 28. 3pm: the first demonstrators gather at Porta Palazzo. Apart from the flags of an anti-racist association, there are no other flags of parties or organization to be found. There is a massive deployment of cops, but they do not let themselves be seen. As the march is about to start, there are already 1000 people. Eddy’s friends open the march, his brother speaks with the megaphone. At a certain point, a few metropolitan policemen are seen and the tension rises. No one can stand the sight of uniforms this afternoon. The march joins a demo of the COBAS (independent unions) for a while, then the demonstrators go off on their own. A few messages arrive from the detention center: the prisoners would like the march to reach the camp, as an incentive to the struggle. Eddy’s friends, on the contrary, want to take their rage to the police station. In the surrounding area anti-riot police block the road and try to prevent the march from carrying on. The immigrants are furious, especially the women, most of them want to attack the cops with their bare hands. So the cops go back, leaving free access to the nearby railway station in order to block the way to the police headquarters. Tension is high. The militants of the anti-racist organization are worried and call for nonviolence. As no one listens to them, they go away taking their banner and flags with them, and publicly dissociate themselves from the demo.

After a few moments’ hesitation, the march goes towards Porta Susa station, where the rail tracks are blocked. Black and white people together explain the reason for the rail block to the passengers: ‘No one should travel in a town where people are being killed!’. There is some damage to the inside of the station, in particular against a cash machine of the San Paolo bank. Half an hour later, the march reaches Porta Palazzo and ends without incident.

June 1. Prisoners in Corso Brunelleschi camp claim they are on hunger strike once again. During the week the camp is almost empty as only twenty immigrants are left inside. As deportations continue, in fact, raids in the town are suspended.

June 2. A group of Italian people bring their support to the immigrants in the camp. They shout, make a noise and greeting the immigrants.

June 5. Raids and imprisonment of immigrants start again. Police also storm the busses and capture immigrants with the help of ticket collectors.

June 8. A group of comrades enters the town hall where the mayor and a few councilors are trying to convince the inhabitants of a Turin western suburb of the utility of a few projects concerning the area. A banner and leaflets remind people about the immigrants killed by police, while protesters shout out how some of the councilors there are also responsible for the murders. Then the comrades quickly leave the place shouting ‘Killers and slave traders!’. Shortly before, it had been a group of sacked workers who had railed at the mayor; shortly after, a group of furious inhabitants protest against the proposals of councilor Viano.

A ‘difficult evening for the administrators of the town’ is the comment of the local press.

June 9. At the market of Vanchiglia area, a group of comrades protest at the stall of ‘Torino Cronaca’ (a local paper). With the help of a megaphone, demonstrators expose the paper’s responsibility in spreading racism and the expulsion of immigrants in Turin over the past few months. A banner is shown and leaflets are distributed.

In the afternoon, a few comrades take part in a gathering outside the detention camp. Prisoners are greeted with megaphones, but they are soon locked up in cages so that they can’t answer. Anti-riot police and carabinieri are lined up in front of the camp, whereas the surrounding streets had already been cleared of parked cars. In the evening, a large number of threatening carabinieri vans patrol San Salvario area.

June 16. Unknown people glue up the parking meters of the Gtt and spread a false note announcing that the company has decided to grant a day of free parking for everybody.

MILAN

In the evening of April 18, a prisoner in one of the dormitories of Via Corelli detention camp (Milan), ‘hurts himself’: we do not know whether he swallowed toxic drugs, batteries, pieces of iron or inflicted wounds on himself. We just know that, following this nth case of self-injury, the other prisoners in the camp ask for an ambulance to be called. As the latter does not arrive, the inmates of the dormitory decide that the only solution is to start a protest, which soon develops into an uprising. As usual, the Red Cross, which is responsible for the management of the camp, call the police: searches are carried out, personal belongings and books (especially copies of the Koran) are destroyed, and beatings are inflicted. The immigrants begin a hunger strike on April 9, which lasts at least ten days, and is carried on in fits and starts over the following weeks.

On Sunday April 10 a demo is organized outside San Vittore prison, where two of the immigrants, Gisela, a Brazilian, and Mohammed, a Moroccan, who took part in the revolt have been moved: both are accused of ‘damage and arson’ and arrested thanks to the reports of Red Cross operators Inverinizzi and Sei.

Meanwhile, immigrants are being deported, especially the ones who had been in touch with supporters. At the same time, however, a great number of prisoners are freed in order to get rid of possible rioters.

The main thing the authorities want, in fact, is to put an end to any attempt to provoke an uprising, but it must be pointed out that they do not always attain their goal. The ‘most exploited of the exploited’ are strongly determined to resist; so much so that, when released because they are considered ‘rioters’, they carry on protesting outside the camp. Furthermore, those who were recently imprisoned to fill the empty places in the camp (it must be remembered that the Red Cross are given 75 euros a day for every prisoner) were the first to get up on the roof during the protests of 15th and 16th April. This happens to be a number of Romanian women who had been rounded up from the ghettos created by Prefect Bruno Ferrante. The protest, therefore, has extended to the female sector of the camp, which had been more hesitant in the struggle until now.

On April 25, official anniversary of the liberation of Italy from the Nazi troops (25th April 1945), at the end of the annual march held by victims and persecutors together, a gathering outside the detention camp is organized in support of the struggles of the immigrants and to remind people that concentration camps still exist. Police soon prevent the advance of the comrades towards the detention camp by lining up cops and vans along the street. Some demonstrators decide to give up; others remain in the area as they think that the existence of the camp is a problem that concerns everybody, including those who live next to it; other comrades reach the nearby road from where the camp can be seen and hang a banner that the prisoners inside the camp can see.

The immigrants get on the roof again because their requests ‘closure of the detention camps and an end to deportations and arrests’, have been ignored. Police chief Aversa, who had intervened during the last uprising promising he would put a temporary halt to all deportations, also breaks his word. In the following month other protests are carried out, some are supported outside and some others are unfortunately left isolated.

In the night between 23 and 24 May, after breaking one of the cameras that constantly spy on them, the immigrants go on the roof once again and shout ‘Free everybody, we don’t want to be prisoners any more!’. They stay there until police drag them down: some immigrants end up in the infirmary, some in the hospital, some in San Vittore prison.

In the morning of May 24, without the lawyers of the arrested immigrants knowing, all 21 arrests are ratified: 9 people are sent to prison, the other 12 are taken to the Via Corelli camp or to the detention camp in Bologna. That day, the accused who choose to be judged immediately, are sentenced to 6 and 8 months’ jail, more than the public prosecutor had asked, by judge Fabiana Mastrominico. The sentence for the others will be decided June 23, in the presence of their accusers: Romano Pili, chief inspector of Lambrate police headquarters, and Alberto Bruno, representing the Red Cross. Once again the Red Cross reveal what they are and for whom they work.

Now in the detention camp a new section for the cops is being built along with an identification point for asylum seekers. Paradoxically, it is exactly by jumping from this structure of bricks and concrete that two immigrants managed to escape. They have gained the freedom they craved with one simple gesture.

BOLOGNA

Along the banks of the Rhine stood a shantytown where the undesirables live, as usual, on the fringes of the society, clandestine immigrants who provide the workforce that bosses and little bosses need in order to multiply their profits.

On the night of 10 April, as the river swelled fearfully, risking sweeping away the fragile little houses made out of cardboard and corrugated iron, the chanty-dwellers called the fire brigade. The firemen arrived along with the cops, who dismantled the houses and took nine Romanian immigrants without papers to the concentration camp in Via Corelli (Bologna) so that they could eventually be deported. The morning after, the judges on duty wasted no time in ratifying the ‘arrests’ of the previous day, apart from that of a boy whom they released owing to some legal flaw. In the meantime, an uprising broke out inside the detention camp: the prisoners went on hunger strike and, after holding a meeting, they drew up an open letter to the citizens of Bologna and Europe in which they exposed the reasons for their struggle, following the example set by the immigrants imprisoned in the Via Corelli detention camp in Milan. The jailers’ response soon arrived: cops and staff of Misericordia (the religious association that runs the camp), armed with truncheons, raided the camp, just to remind everybody what can happen to those who dare to protest. Despite the actions carried out in the town and outside the camp to support the protest and denounce the situation inside the camp, the prisoners’ sensation that they were isolated must have prevailed and the protest was over in a couple of days.

On Saturday 14th May, an information point and exhibition in the center of the town reminded the inhabitants of Bologna what detention camps are like and why the horrors that happen inside such places cannot be ignored. Moreover, struggles inside and outside the other detention camps in Italy were mentioned, including those concerning Regina Pacis in Lecce, where a few comrades had been arrested two days before owing to their struggle against the camps. Demonstrators distributed leaflets, spoke with a megaphone and played music for a couple of hours. Afterwards they marched noisily up to Piazza Maggiore, showing the banner ‘Close detention camps, the terrorists are those who run them’.