The police who raided the schools with batons smashing heads were allegedely trained by Los Angeles police. Electronic Liberazione article. Anyone have the full printed version?

Fourth hand sources [Lib -> Reuters -> ? -> IMC] of full article:
http://www.la.indymedia.org/display.php3?article_id=9228
http://chicago.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=3978

The original Liberazione article (electronic version):

http://www.liberazione.it/giornale/07-08mar/PRIMA/PRI-1/PRIMA.htm

> Istruzioni dagli Usa
>
> Un agente di polizia confida a Liberazione: «Sono venuti i poliziotti di Los
> Angeles per addestrarci ad usare il manganello di alluminio». Per circa quattro
> mesi, a Ponte Galeria, gli uomini del settimo nucleo del primo reparto mobile
> di Roma, quello che ha fatto l?irruzione nella scuola Diaz, hanno seguito i
> consigli e i metodi degli agenti americani: «Voi italiani siete troppi, da noi
> negli Usa bastano venti poliziotti per disperdere centinaia di manifestanti,
> perché possiamo sparare i proiettili di gomma» Alle pagine 8-9


Approximate English translation.

Liberazione, 7-8 March 2001

Instructions from the USA

A police officer confided to Liberazione, "Los Angeles policemen came
to show us how to use aluminium batons". For approximately four months,
at Ponte Galeria, the men of the seventh squad of the first mobile
unit of Rome, which carried out the intervention in the school at
Diaz, have followed the advice and the methods of the American agents:
"You Italains are too numerous, for us in the USA twenty policemen are
enough in order to disperse hundreds of demonstrators, because we can
shoot rubber bullets."

See pages 8-9


The printed version may be longer than the electronic version.

Could someone with a printed version please post that?
Pages 8-9 Liberazione 7-8 March!

www.liberazione.it/giornale/07-08mar/PRIMA/PRI-1/PRIMA.htm

when and where in satan's holy hell have you ever seen "just twenty cops" present at any political demo in L.A. or any where in the U.S.? there's always a full legion armed and ready to go to war. however this is a sadenning thing that we must prepare for because the police state is manifesting on a global stage so therefore we must prepare ourselves spiritually, pscologically and physically as well. i believe with all my heart that we will prevail because one thing that we have that they don't is love and compassion which fuels our purpose. they have guilt and excuses. so fuck them....

Genoa police unit trained by U.S. sheriffs - paper

ROME (Reuters) - An elite Italian police unit which carried out a bloody raid against protesters at a Group of Eight summit in Genoa was trained by U.S. police chiefs, an Italian newspaper reported Tuesday.

For four months, 70 specially selected officers were trained by two Los Angeles police sheriffs. A larger number of police also received a week-long training course from the Americans, according to the Communist daily Liberazione.

"The prime responsibility of the two Los Angeles sheriffs was to train the men from the special unit in the use of American aluminum batons," an unidentified policeman who took part in the one-week course was quoted as saying.

"From the start, they openly criticized the way in which Italian police carry out public order," he said.

Not only is the use of foreign expertise likely to cause consternation, but the fact the officers came from Los Angeles, a city scarred by mass riots in 1992 following the police beating of black motorist Rodney King, also raises serious questions.

In a midnight assault on a school which was acting as a headquarters for protest groups during the July 20-22 summit, 62 people were injured and 93 arrested. Many were laid out on stretchers with blood-stained faces.

Reporters who entered the school soon afterwards saw blood stains on the walls and broken teeth scattered on the floor. At least one protester has since undergone brain surgery.

Allegations of police brutality have flooded in and three top police officials have been transferred by the interior minister, who has faced calls for his own resignation.

The Interior Ministry declined to make a comment at this time on the involvement of the American sheriffs.

As well as brutality, there were also allegations that police sexually assaulted female protesters. Two weeks after the summit, nearly 50 demonstrators are still in prison. Many say their human and civil rights have been violated.

The police source told the paper the American sheriffs had said repeatedly that "in Los Angeles all we need is a nucleus of 20 cops to disperse hundreds of demonstrators because we can fire rubber bullets which wound, but don't kill."

On the first day of the Genoa summit, a 23-year-old protester who was attacking a police vehicle was shot and killed by an Italian paramilitary policeman.

The source also said that the week-long course he had been assigned to was more like a military boot camp.

"We marched, learned how to form shield defenses and how to jump through fire or out of a moving vehicle," he said.

"It was more like a medieval tournament. In the end we were doing purely military training. There seemed no difference between police officers and soldiers."

13:40 08-07-01

Copyright 2001 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.

il processo di americanizzazione parte da una delle prerogative americane: la violenza. che schifo. i super cops italiani addestrati per uccidere dagli amici transoceanici che gia' hanno una bella esperienza in fatto di uccidere.

Liberazione, martedi' 7 agosto 2001
pagg. 8-9
Scuola di polizia made in Usa

http://www.liberazione.it/giornale/07-08mar/PRIPIANO/PRP-3/07-08marPRP-3.pdf

Tigrepapel, thanks for the Reuters posting. However,
Reuters seems to say that this is just a translated
version of the Liberazione article. I was hoping for
the *original* Italian article. Second-hand and
n-th hand sources have accumulated errors.

Andrea, molto grazie for the pdf file!

Please feel welcome to correct the English translation!
Ciao.


text version of
http://www.liberazione.it/giornale/07-08mar/PRIPIANO/PRP-3/07-08marPRP-3.pdf

##

Scuola di polizia made in USA

Il modello da imitare era la polizia di Los Angles. L'esperimento
l'hanno fatto nella scuola Diaz quei settanta poliziotti del
settimo nucleo del primo reparto mobile che erano stati
addestrati da due sceriffi di Los Angeles. Gli altri uomini dei
reparti mobile hanno fatto a ponte Galeria un corso di una settimana.
Quelli del settimo, il nucleo sperimentale, scrupolosamente
selezionati, hanno fatto una preparazione di quattro mesi. «I due
sceriffi di Los Angeles - racconta un poliziotto che ha fatto
il corso nel centro addestrativo di Ponte Galeria a Roma - erano
chiamati Crick e Crock perché uno aveva la taglia extra-large e
l'altro la small. Il loro compito era addestrare gli uomini
del nucleo sperimentale all'uso del manganello americano che è
d'alluminio. I due sceriffi criticavano apertamente il modo in cui la
polizia italiana è impiegata nei servizi di ordine pubblico.
Dopo che ci vedevano sfilare e marciare dicevano: siete troppi, da
noi a Los Angeles basta un nucleo di venti poliziotti per
disperdere centinaia di manifestanti perché possiamo sparare
proiettili di gomma, che feriscono, ma non uccidono. A voi che vi
serve l'arma? Non la potete usare, perché i vostri proiettili
di piombo uccidono. I nostri ufficiali rispondevano che la strategia
dei nostri nostri reparti mobili si basa sulla forza numerica
e sulla compattezza di azione per evitare che ci scappi il morto da
una parte o dall'altra. A parte l'addestramento speciale del reparto
sperimentale, quello che si faceva nei sette giorni erano soltanto marce,
testuggini e prove di ardimento come passare attraverso il
fuoco o saltare giù da un'auto in movimento. Sembrava di essere tornati
ai tornei del medioevo. Ormai ci fanno solo l'addestramento militare.
Che differenza c'è tra i poliziotti e i soldati?»

[several more paragraphs follow about Genoa related issues, but don't deal with USA police officers]

##

Approximate English translation. Paragraph spacing plus notes [tr:]
added by translator for clarity.

The model was to imitate the Los Angeles police. The experiment was
carried out in the school at Diaz by seventy policemen of the seventh
squad of the first mobile unit, who had been trained by two sheriffs
from Los Angeles. Other men in the mobile units took a one week course
at Ponte Galeria. Those of the seventh squad, i.e. of the
experimental squad, were scrupulously selected, and spent four months
of preparation. "Those two sheriffs from Los Angeles", tells a policeman
who took the course in the training centre of Ponte Galeria in Rome,

"They were called Crick and Crock because one was very big and the
other very small. Their task was to train the men of the experimental
squad in the American way of using aluminium batons. The two sheriffs
openly criticised the way in which the Italian police carry out public
order. After they saw us parading and marching, they said: "

"'There are too many of you; for us in Los Angeles, a squad of twenty policemen
is enough to disperse hundreds of demonstrators because we can shoot
rubber bullets, which hurt, but do not kill. What use is your firearm
to you? You cannot use it, because your lead bullets kill.'"

"Our officials answered that the strategy of our mobile units is based
on numerical force and the compactness of action in order to avoid any
deaths from one side or the other. Apart from the special training of
the experimental unit [tr: the 70 men in the 7th squad who went to
Diaz school], what occurred in the seven days [tr: for members of
other mobile units] was only marching, tests and proofs of bravery
like passing through fire or jumping down from a car in motion. It
seemed like being returned to the tournaments of the Middle Ages. Now
they make us do military training. What difference is there between
policemen and soldiers?"

##

Key things to note that Reuters accidentally "overlooked" from
this article.

* This was an experiment intended to test the "Los Angeles model".

* The experiment was carried out at the Diaz school.

* The 70 members of the 7th squad were "scrupulously selected" for
their four month training course. They can't be written off as just a few
bad apples in the barrel: they were the *best* apples in the barrel,
according to political choices of "best" for Italian policing for G8-Genoa.


* The training of the 7th squad is *not* stated. Was the (anonymous)
policeman afraid? Was Liberazione worried about defamation?

* The one week training for the *other* mobile units was "marching,
tests and proofs of bravery like passing through fire and jumping
down from a car in motion... like ... tournaments of the Middle Ages."

Is *this* the Los Angeles police idea of 21st century crowd control?

* The big question remains: what was the training given to the 70 members
of the Diaz attack squad (7th squad) by sheriffs Crick and Crock from LA?


##

"Los Angeles Weekly", 17-23 august 2001
News: Baton Twirling by Ben Ehrenreich
L.A.'s finest train Italian police on crowd suppression
Published August 17 - 23, 2001
http://www.laweekly.com/ink/01/39/news-ehrenreich.shtml


"Indymedia Italia", A21
Agenti italiani addestrati da quelli americani
by Q 1:23pm Tue Aug 21 '01

Traduzione di un articolo comparso sul settimanale L.A. Weekly (http://www.laweekly.com), distribuito gratuitamente ogni giovedi' a Los Angeles.
Per qualche motivo l'articolo e' stato rimosso dalla versione on-line del settimanale.
http://italy.indymedia.org/front.php?article_id=15613


Pubblicato anche su "Liberazione" http://www.liberazione.it/, martedi' 21 agosto 2001, p. 9

Un aticolo del "Los Angeles Weekly" conferma le accuse di "Liberazione"
Genova, Pestaggi targati Usa
Lo sceriffo della contea californiana ammette: <<Abbiamo istruito i poliziotti italiani all'uso del manganello in alluminio. Pagava il ministero degli Interni>>