Amnesty International said today it had clear indications Italian police violated the human rights of protesters at a G8 summit in Genoa last week.
The London-based human rights group also said it believed inquiries into alleged police brutality launched by Italian prosecutors would not be enough to establish the truth and called for an independent inquiry commission.
"The full picture of what happened is still emerging but, given the number and consistency of allegations, there is clear indication of widespread human rights abuses," Amnesty spokesperson Nerys Lee said.
Italian and foreign activists have given their accounts to media in Italy and abroad of beatings, maltreatment and of being deprived access to lawyers, families or consulate officials.
Genoa prosecutors have opened three inquiries into the allegations. One looks into possible charges of assault, bodily harm and abuse of office on activists detained in jails. The others focus on a police raid on a school used as sleeping quarters and a media centre by the umbrella protest group, the Genoa Social Forum (GSF), and on alleged beatings of those detained after the raid at a Genoa police station.
"Amnesty is currently trying to establish the precise remit/parameters of the three investigations but, given the apparent scale of the violations...as well as the very high level of domestic and international concern, it believes they are unlikely to be an adequate response and have the necessary scope," said Lee, an Amnesty Western Europe researcher.
Italy's centre-left opposition has attacked the centre-right government led by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, demanding it does all it can to shed light on the allegations.
One demonstrator was shot dead and more than 231 injured in two days of violence. Police initially arrested 280, many of them foreign nationals, though many have now been freed.
Berlusconi vowed in a speech to parliament today there would be no government cover-up over the allegations.
"If there were abuses, excesses and violence, which may come to light in internal investigations by the Interior Ministry and the judiciary, there will be no cover up for those who have violated the law," he told the upper house Senate.
Amnesty provided a list of abuses that it said were committed during and after the antiG8 protests, based on information it had gathered so far.
It said abuses included:
- Excessive use of force on the streets during demonstrations; indiscriminate assault by officers on, among others, non-violent protesters, journalists.
- Deliberate and gratuitous beatings during a raid on GSF headquarters resulting in serious injuries and hospital treatment.
- Arbitrary and illegal arrests.
Still emerging allegations of serious ill-treatment, degrading treatment and inhumane conditions and deprivation of internationally recognised rights of people deprived of their liberty in police stations.