The July 22 police raid which has become a focus of Italy's parliamentary inquiry was carried out on the headquarters of the Genoa Social Forum - the umbrella group coordinating the protests - and the neighboring Independent Media Center (IMC).
It received largely indifferent coverage in the U.S., but reports in independent and non-U.S. media indicated that some 200 police officers brutally beat sleeping activists in an attack that led to more than a dozen of the arrestees being carried out on stretchers, some unconscious (Guardian,7/24/01). Of the 93 people arrested at the school, 72 suffered injuries. All were eventually released without charge (DPA, 1/8/03).
The coverage of this attack on the nightly newscasts of the U.S.'s three major broadcast networks was instructive. At first, ABC World News Tonight did not report the raid at all. CBS Evening News (7/22/01) mentioned it in passing, with the reporter noting almost approvingly that "the tactics were heavy-handed, but the streets were quiet today." Commendably, NBC Nightly News(7/22/01) devoted more significant attention to the attack and reported organizers' claim that all the arrestees had been non-violent and were "the latest victims of police brutality."
It received largely indifferent coverage in the U.S., but reports in independent and non-U.S. media indicated that some 200 police officers brutally beat sleeping activists in an attack that led to more than a dozen of the arrestees being carried out on stretchers, some unconscious (Guardian,7/24/01). Of the 93 people arrested at the school, 72 suffered injuries. All were eventually released without charge (DPA, 1/8/03).
The coverage of this attack on the nightly newscasts of the U.S.'s three major broadcast networks was instructive. At first, ABC World News Tonight did not report the raid at all. CBS Evening News (7/22/01) mentioned it in passing, with the reporter noting almost approvingly that "the tactics were heavy-handed, but the streets were quiet today." Commendably, NBC Nightly News(7/22/01) devoted more significant attention to the attack and reported organizers' claim that all the arrestees had been non-violent and were "the latest victims of police brutality."