The raid on the "Armando Diaz" School took place during the 27th G8 meeting in Genoa in 2001 in the district of Albaro, Genoa. The school building was the temporary headquarters of the Genoa Social Forum, led by Vittorio Agnoletto. A nearby building, housing the anti-globalization organization Indymedia and lawyers affiliated with the Genoa Social Forum, was also raided. On July 21, 2001, shortly before midnight, mobile divisions of the Polizia di Stato of Genoa, Rome and Milan attacked the buildings, with the operational support of some battalions of the Carabinieri.
The police indiscriminately attacked the building's occupants, resulting in the arrest of 93 protesters; 61 were seriously injured and were taken to hospital, three of them were in a critical condition and one in a coma. Prisoners taken to a temporary detention facility in Bolzaneto were tortured and humiliated before being released. The raid resulted in the trial of 125 policemen, including managers and supervisors, for what was termed a beating from "Mexican butchery" by the assistant chief Michelangelo Fournier. None of the accused police officers were punished due to delays in the investigation and incompleteness of Italian laws under which torture was not recognised as a crime in 2001.
Prior to the raid, there had been several clashes between demonstrators and security forces. Several protesters were sleeping in the school. The numbers and designation of the security forces involved in the raid are still unknown, as they wore ski masks to hide their identities. The Court of Appeal of Genoa stated that "346 policemen, in addition to 149 Carabinieri officers were involved in the raid of the school buildings."
The raid is the subject of the 2012 film Diaz – Don't Clean Up This Blood where the attack and subsequent torture of detainees is recreated. On April 7, 2015, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Italy had violated the European Convention on Human Rights at the 2001 G8 and ordered compensation for a protester beaten by the police. Earlier, the Italian government compensated a British journalist who had been beaten by the police. Amnesty International defined the raid as "the most serious human rights suspension in Europe", after World War II.
The raid
The police raid on the school, which housed protesters linked to the Genoa Social Forum, took place a few minutes before midnight when most guests were already asleep. The raid was initiated by mobile police units from Rome, followed by more units from Genoa and Milan. Battalions of the Carabinieri did not actively participate in the raid, but limited themselves to surround the perimeter and areas adjacent to the school. Mark Covell, a British journalist, was the first person who met the police outside the building and was assaulted, leaving him in a coma. During the raid the police violently attacked those who were in the school, injuring 82 people out of a total of 93 arrested. Among the arrested, 63 were taken to hospital and 19 were taken to the police station of Bolzaneto. According to the reconstruction of events given in subsequent investigations, evidence was planted after the raid to justify the brutality of the raid. Senior police officers planted two Molotov cocktails recovered elsewhere in the school, delivered to them by General Valerio Donnini that afternoon. Police also planted construction tools, hammers and knives from a nearby construction site and claimed they belonged to anarchist groups housed in the building. A police officer, Massimo Nucera, showed a slash in his bulletproof vest, claiming he was knifed by a violent demonstrator. However, the knife was never identified. He was later convicted of forgery and defamation, and it was later revealed that he cut his own vest to claim resistors were violent, and thus justify the brutality of the raid.
Beginning of the raid
The raid started a few minutes before midnight, when policemen massed outside the school. A police officer attacked British journalist Mark Covell, who tried to tell them he was a journalist. Within seconds, more policemen joined in the attack, beating him with nightsticks to the ground. According to Covell, one policeman kicked him in the chest, breaking half-a-dozen ribs whose splintered ends then shredded the membrane of his left lung, and laughed. Other policemen kicked him around, breaking his hand and damaging his spine. The police then used an armoured police van to break through the school gates and 150 policemen, wearing crash helmets and carrying truncheons and shields, entered the school compound.