CHRONOLOGY

September 26. Calimera (Lecce). A leaflet denouncing doctor Anna Catia Cazzato’s role in Regina Pacis detention camp is distributed during a folk fair. ‘Carabinieri’ cops and metropolitan policemen expect four comrades to hand in their identity cards. At the comrades’ refusal, the latter are taken to the police station and are identified. One of them is sued for libel.

October 3.  San Foca (Lecce). An attempt of mass escape is unfortunately blocked by the cops. Only five immigrants manage to flee.

October 3. Sassuolo (Modena). In Braida Park, a troupe of Telepadania that was producing racist reports is fiercely opposed by a group of immigrants. It is the fourth time that this happens since the beginning of the year.

October 4. Turin. A small explosive device damages the front door of ‘Re Rebaudengo’ association site, where a conference is supposed to be held by Barbara Contini, former Italian governor in Nassirya. A leaflet against the war in Iraq is left on the spot.

October 6. Capo Teulada (Cagliari, Sardinia). The fishermen’s struggle against Nato military operations is carried on in Sulcis Iglesiente area. In the previous days, fishermen had stopped a military training, ‘Destined Glory 2004’, with their small fishing boats. This had caused great economic inconvenience to the army in the island. The fishermen claim the clearance of all military bases from the sea in front of Capo Teulada and the southern shore of Sardinia, which has been devastated by military operations for years.

October 12. Athens (Greece). During the night, two banks and the site of a Ministry are damaged by Molotov devices in the centre of the town. The fire in one of the banks has caused serious damages to the building.

October 26. Ragusa (Sicily). Twenty immigrants escape from the local detention camp passing through a hole dug in the wall. Another three immigrants are stopped by police.

October 29. Athens (Greece). A bomb is detonated against two police vans that were driving in the centre of the town.

October 31. Sannicola (Lecce). The cash machine and a window of a ‘Banco Ambrosiano Veneto’ branch are spotted with paint. The branch belongs to Banca Intesa.

October 31. Marghera (Venice). The entrance door of the site of ‘Alta’ (Associazione Lagunari Truppe Anfibie), a section of the Italian army, is spotted with writings against the army and with paint.

November 1. Juliaca (Peru). An uprising against the local authority has been carried out for a week. Buildings and shops have been set to fire and looted. It is said that there have been a number of dead and wounded.

November 1. Agrigento (Sicily). 46 immigrants escape from the local concentration camp. 28 of them are soon recaptured.

November 7. Hadita (Iraq). Rebels attack the local police station and the one in Halqlanya, where the chief responsible for western security is killed.

November 13. Lurate Caccivio (Como). Two Molotov devices are thrown against the local ‘carabinieri’ cops station. It was a few years that episodes like this didn’t occur in the area. The last one happened in July 2001, when the car of a ‘carabiniere’ cop who had taken part into anti-riot operations in Genoa was set to fire.

November 15. Copertino (Lecce). During the night, unknown saboteurs cut the pipes in an Esso petrol station. A message is left on the spot: ‘Esso killer, troops out of Iraq’.

November 23. Bologna. 15 immigrants attempt to escape from Via Mattei detention camp after digging a hole in the room used for the prayers. Only five of them manage to flee, whereas the other 10 are violently beaten and arrested.

November 24. Ragusa (Sicily). 10 immigrants escape from the local detention camp, but 5 of them are unfortunately recaptured.

November 26. Baghdad (Iraq). In the ‘Green Zone’, an attack causes 4 British private guards working for ‘Global risk strategies’ to be killed.

December 2. Malpensa airport (Milan). An aircraft with 120 Nigerian women on board must land after taking off owing to a revolt broken out by the women. The latter were held in Milan, Turin and Rome detention camps and were on the plane to be deported on order of the Home Secretary.

December 4. Iraq. The Iraqi guerrilla keeps on attacking police stations: 7 officers are killed and dozens are wounded in the Green Zone, whereas 20 policemen are killed in Mossul.

December 5. Turin. In Corso Brunelleschi detention camp a group of prisoners revolt and set fire to two buildings, but none of them succeed in escaping. They had just come back to the camp after a failed deportation attempt. The aircraft that was taking them to their countries of origin, in fact, had to land owing to a breakdown.

December 5. Turin. On Sunday night, immigrants gather in San Salvario area to chat, drink and enjoy themselves. A few cops arrive and try to identify a man from Philippines, and then chase him inside the entrance of the building, where the man has taken refuge. As he refuses to show his documents to the cops, about 50 neighbours back him and throw dishes and other objects against the officers. According to the latter, some of the neighbours, already wearing their pyjamas, have surrounded, punched and kicked the cops. Three men from Philippines are arrested.

December 5. Nigeria. Dozens of women and men invade three Shell and Chevron Texaco oil-platforms in Rivers area and block the activity. Oil pipelines and wells have been throwing bitumen into lagoons and fields for years, bringing about pollution and inflicting serious damages to fishing and farming. This is the reason why the locals resolved to fight directly against oil companies, which are responsible for poverty and repression in the area.

December 12. Milan. At Senigallia fair about 200 sellers from Senegal fight against policemen and officers of Spac (a police section that investigates on trade and business) who want to evict them. A few officers are wounded and a man from Senegal is arrested.

December 13. Baji (Iraq). An act of sabotage against a heating power plant causes a chain reaction that stops the power production in the country.

December 15. Paris (France). Passengers on an Air France plane directed to Congo prevent police from deporting three immigrants, two men and a woman who had been boarded with chains at theirs wrists and ankles. At the sight of the immigrants in chains, the passengers had revolted and threatened they would prevent the plane from taking off.

December 15. Lecce. Demo outside Paisiello theatre where archbishop Ruppi, responsible for the management of Regina Pacis, is celebrating the 50th anniversary of his priesthood.

December 25. Athens (Greece). A group of anarchists attack a police station with stones and other objects in Akharnon area. Afterwards they erect a barricade by throwing upside down a police van parked in front of the police station, and set fire to it. None of them is stopped. In the previous days a few Greek non-governmental organizations had accused officers in that police station of torturing and abusing 60 immigrants after a raid in a hostel for immigrants.

December 25. Da Lang (China). A huge mass uprising breaks out after a young man is beaten to death by police. Violent fights take place between anti-riot policemen and immigrant workers coming from the same area as the killed man. Barricades are erected, Molotov devices and stones are thrown around, various officers are wounded and a policeman is stabbed to death.

December 30. Lecce. A few writings against detention camps appear on the walls of Porta Napoli.

January. Switzerland. During the World Economic Forum in Berne, a great number of initiatives are carried out all over the country: demos, performances in the streets, false TV interviews, ‘attacks’ against police stations with fireworks and slogans. Many demonstrators are arrested.

January 2. Iraq. Sabotages to pipelines and gas lines in the country have so far caused 8 billion dollars damage.

January 5. Wellington (New Zealand). Two Molotov devices are launched against the site of the Parliament.

January 6. Mexico. A crowd prevent police from carrying out arrests in San Teotihuacan. People, in fact, throw sticks and stones against the local police van and resist the subsequent intervention of the police.

January 8. San Foca (Lecce). Four North African men attempt to escape from the detention camp by jumping from a window on the first floor. A cop and priest Cesare Lodeserto, director of the camp, who have tried to stop the fugitives, are injured. One of the immigrants is arrested and charged with ‘violence and resistance against a public officer’. Another immigrant has his leg fractured and ends up in hospital. 

January 9. Taranto. During the night unknown people set fire to three cash machines of Banca Intesa. The machines and 70,000 euros are burnt.

January 13. San Foca (Lecce). Three immigrants manage to gain freedom by throwing themselves from the first floor in Regina Pacis. Unfortunately another immigrant is recaptured.

January 14. Malta. 100 immigrants locked up into a police station while their asylum request is examined protest against the long imprisonment they are inflicted. A fight against anti-riot cops breaks out.

January 16. Turin. Two Moroccan immigrants manage to escape from Corso Brunelleschi detention camp by salting the fence during a moment of confusion. A few days before, the association ‘Medecins sans frontiers’ had claimed that living conditions in that detention camp were unbearable and that it was one of the three most infamous camps for immigrants in Italy.

January 20. Washington (USA). A spectacular protest against the war in Iraq ends up with the arrests of three women. During Bush’s speech, they had stood up together from the VIP section shouting ‘Take the troops back’ and showing banners with the writings: ‘No War’, ‘Out of Iraq now’.

January 23. Calimera (Lecce). A great number of writings against Regina Pacis doctor Anna Catia Cazzato and against detention camps have appeared on most walls in the village.

January 23. Catanzaro. A march and a demo outside the Prefect Palace are carried out in protest against detention camps and the horrible living conditions they offer. The protest is also organised in memory of Said, an immigrant who had committed suicide a few days before in Lamezia camp.

January 25. Rivoli (Torino). As the local ‘Lega Nord’ party (a fascist party claiming the independence of North Italy) has been target for continuous attacks, its members have gagged themselves ‘in defence of freedom of speech’ (sic!).

January 26. Palermo (Sicily). In the courtyard of a middle school, while a ceremony is held in the presence of the Prefect, the Attorney General and the Chief police, a few pupils shout against the policemen: ‘Cops bastards’, and ‘Cops arseholes’.

January 26. Spain. After the murder of comrade Xose’ Tarrio, a protest march is organized. Writings appear on the walls and a few banks are attacked along the way.

February. Bari. Writings and posters against the local detention camp and his builder Salvatore Matarrese appear on the walls of the town.

February 2. Mantua. Pupils of a class in a suburban primary school revolt against their teacher and also threaten her with chairs. Metropolitan police must intervene to calm the little rebels.

February 11. Iesi (Ancona). One hundred activists against the war have blocked for two hours the activity of Imesa, a company belonging to Schiavoni Trust that takes part into reconstruction operations in Iraq.

February 15. Athens (Greece). At the ‘An Club’, a group of anarchists prevent a gig from being performed. The ‘Vandals’, the punk band who was supposed to play, had made a tour in Iraq to enjoy Nato troops. During the same protest action, anarchists also attack two MPs of Pasok (former governing party), whose office is close to the club, and they damage the car of one of them. Info about Vandals can be found in the website: http://www.kungfurecords.com/html/joesreport.htm

February 18. Teti (Sardinia). A mobile phone aerial is set to fire for the second time in a month.

February 18. Astoria (Spain). Two rough explosive devices made of fireworks, camping bomb sprays and inflammables are found close to the site of PSOE party in San Martin de Teverga and the PP in Llanera. They are intended as a protest against the EU constitution.

February 19. Turin. Militants of Lega Nord party have settled a propaganda stall in San Paolo market. As soon as a few regular customers of the market recognize EU MP Mario Borghezio, they can’t prevent themselves from spitting at him and throwing down his stall.

February 19. Parma. March in solidarity to Senegal community is organised by various anti-racist associations. A few days before, homeless immigrants from Senegal had squatted a church and had soon been evicted by the cops.

February 22. Turin. A young Moroccan man succeeds in salting the wall of the detention camp where he was imprisoned and he gains freedom while arrangements for his deportation were being made.

March 5. Rovereto (Trento). 500 metres wire of a pylon close to Quercia stadium are set to fire. Most inhabitants of the area had already protested against the presence of the pylon. Police is now investigating two tracks: anarchists and local inhabitants.

March 5. Turin. The excellent example set by the splits at EU MP Borghezio spread around. Two people in a car target a ‘Lega Nord’ propaganda stall settled in front of a super store: one of them spits out of the window car at militants of ‘Lega Nord’; not satisfied by this, the other one gets out of the car, throws the stall down and punches somebody in the face. A few weeks later, a ‘Lega Nord’ propaganda van is followed by a few people armed with a chain saw. As he is also opposed by people in San Salvario market, Borghezio claims that he intends to stop his election campaign.

March 16. Lecce. During the night, unknown antimilitarist activists spot with blue paint a plaque in memory of the Italian soldiers who died in Nassirya, which was set on the rear entrance of the Town Hall.