Italy - brutal dawn attack on peaceful protest camp

At 5am this morning, 2,000 police stormed the protest camps in Val di Susa, northern Italy, to try to allow work to start on a High Velocity Railway (TAV).

They went in using force and vast amounts of tear gas. Some of the 'No TAV' protesters have been injured and their vehicles and camping gear smashed up.

The people in the area have surged onto the roads and the motorways are blocked with lorries. Workers have been coming out of their factories to join the protesters and defend them against the police attack.

The metal-mechanics' union, Fiom, has declared an immediate 8-hour strike in the area in protest and solidarity.

Please send messages of condemnation, and in support of the activists, via: Marco Veruggio at acroamaticmarco@tiscali.it. Marco will translate and forward them.

See socialistworld.net for further reports.

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