Undercurrents reporter recalls the raid.
Hamish Campbell recalls that night in July 2001
After two flights, turning a corner, I came face to face with a carabinieri policeman dressed in full body armour with his truncheon drawn panting his way up the stairwell. At this I turned and flew up two flights shouting, “they are in the building”; past the barricaded door to the IMC (Indymedia centre) and up to the roof. Dodging the spotlight from the circling helicopter I headed over to the window of the water tower and lowered myself in whispering “Marion it's me”. No answer. Creeping through the darkness with the only light being from the IR beam of my camera, I made my way down through the corridor of water tanks whispering “Marion are you there?” and starting to panic that she was not. A small and frightened voice came back: “turn the light off”. She was hiding in the space behind the last water tank. We waited. She had brought a bottle of water and supplies. We talked about what we would do if and when the police came. Would they come in and search… would they throw tear gas… would they smash our equipment and break our bones.. these all seemed very real. The helicopter circled, its spotlight lighting up the window of the water tower. There were noises of movement outside: the police searching the roof. We kept very quiet and still.We were there for 3-4 hours. There was screaming from the street below and cries of "assassina". We only came out after the helicopter had left. Read full story here |
Diaz- Genoa, G8 protests 2001
In July 2001 Undercurrents reported the massive protests against a G8 summit in Genoa, Italy. The protests ended with Police shooting dead one protesters and leading a very brutal raid on the indymedia centre we were operating from. One of our reporters, Hamish Campbell risked his life to capture vital footage that was later used in court, BBC news reports and independent documentaries. In April 2012 the story of that brutal raid is being retold in Diaz- an Italian movie (watch trailer opposite). Undercurrents told the wider story in our documentary, Globalisation and the Media |