Massacre in Florentium!

Today is a tragic day for our Republic. In Florentium what was supposed to be the 2nd day of the J8 meeting and peaceful protests quickly took a turn for the worst.

The day started quietly, with the protesters following their own paths marching peacefully towards their destinations. However, while the Enviroleague was preparing to hold a speech in Piazza Sancta Mariam Novella they were chased away by the Black Blocs who then used the square to make improvised weapons, by the time the police arrived they had already moved to the Central Market, attacking the building with molotovs and stones, forcing everyone including the police already present to flee. The police then decided to send 2 units to the location.

The first to arrive was the one that got to Piazza Sancta Mariam Novella who discovered that the Black Bloc had already moved to Piazza Dominium, where the Lilliput web was holding a speech. The unit arrived while the Black Bloc were throwing bottles and causing chaos, scaring the Lilliput Web protesters who were happy to see the police arrive. However, the police did not charge at the black bloc but instead waited for them to be gone before throwing CS4 gas, charging, arresting and beating the peaceful protesters. 60 protesters of the Lilliput web were injured. No Black Blocs was arrested.

(Video depicting the charge at Piazza Dominium; We would like to bring your attention especially to the timestamps of 1:50 and 5:15)

While this was happening the other unit was marching from the red zone towards the Central Market. They were instructed to be quick as the ATTAC procession, made up of 25'000 people organised by the Florentium Social Forum which was legally allowed to pass through a precise path established in accordance with the police and the Questura, was about to march where the police would need to pass. However, inexplicably, the police unit, led by Officer Mondellius, ignored the orders and stopped right in the path of the authorized procession, naturally prompting the protesters to stop. Then, for unclear reasons, the police first charged the journalists standing to the right, chasing them off to Piazza Iudices before turning back and then charging the protesters who, again, were peaceful. The unit quickly overpowered the protesters barricades and started beating the ATTAC members, leading them to escape disorderly and many people to be injured either as a result of the beatings or the stampede of the crowd. Furthermore not only the police resorted to CS4 tear gas and the "Tonfa" but they also at some point began chasing the protesters with their vehicles seemingly trying to run them over. No Black Blocs were arrested.

(Video depicting the charge against the ATTAC procession; We bring your attention to 5:14 when the Chief of Police of Florentium is heard imprecating before questioning why Mondellius was charging the authorized procession)

(2nd video of the charge against ATTAC)

(3rd video; at 2:35 the police can be seeing charging the protesters with their vehicles)

(4th video)

Alas, tragedy didn't end there. At some point during the charges the protesters managed to push back some police units towards Piazza Sancta Trinitas and isolating two police Defenders, which, we would like to remind to the readers, weren't even supposed to be there, and began attacking it with sticks and screaming at it. Then an officer, Marius Placanicas, inside one of the vehicles fired two live ammunition rounds, seriously injuring Carlos Giulianii, a 23 year old student at the University of Roma, which was then killed by the defender who run him over twice, once while reversing, then a second time while going forward, only then did the Defender leave.

(Video showing the killing of Carlos Giulianii at the 1:48 timestamp)

The Florentium Social Forum, alongside Enviroleague, Lilliput and all the other protesters decided to still do a single manifestation tomorrow, the final day of the J8, stating that it would be better than to have the hundreds of thousands of people who came to Florentium to protest organize autonomous illegal protests on their own and further stating that police brutality won't stop their cause.

We at the Nutella Times are short on words to describe the atrocity of the events that unfolded today, a level of violence we could never imagine happening in our country, regardless of one's opinions on the J8 and the ideals of the protests the facts are that hundreds, if not thousands, of peaceful protesters were injured, arrested or otherwise harmed by the police actions while not a single member of the Black Blocs was arrested.