Policing Global Protests
Police Knowledge and the Genoa Escalation
Lessons from Genoa
Escalated Force in Genova
Italian Police Organizational Model
Traditional model
Coercive Strategies
The brutal intervention of the police in Geona opened harsh political debate on the possible explanations for escalation, ranging from police riot- facilitated by 'not-yet-overcome authoritarian' traditions- to the orders of a right-wing government
Protest Policing in Florence ESF
The Information Strategies used for the Genoa G8 wasn't lacking they recieved large amounts of documentation, the issue was interpretation and planning there was issues with strategical policing and offset communication of use of forcce. Lesson learned was to better educate leaders and subordinate officers to have ashared understanding of thee situation.
Negotiations between police and protestors started months ahead with positive results
Info Strategies
Persuasive strategies
made use of tear gas /irritants
Police fired at least 20 shots, one which killed a protestor
armored vehicles used
indiscrimate and gernalized collection of information
Spread of alarmist and false news
Despite having the info, police lacked the use of specific information by the police
The summit's location was chosen based off of physical isolation
access to roads to the city were partially closed , closure of railway stations , airports , and motorway tollbooths
A buffer zone with restrictions on freedom to demonstrate to set up
A red zone was created to completely stop protestor from the summit
negotiations between protestors and police started very late and often interrupted
Explanation of police conduct
Expulsion notice and searches of private homes and social centres
Literature has stressed the importance of their professional culture- provoked by situational moments and not by well-defined rules or orders.
Police forces were highly militarized bodies with marked centralization
The need to make on the spot decisions about whether or not to intervene lead police to develop stereotypes of people and situations percieved as possible sources of difficulty or danger.
reflected strong political dependence on the government
Reforms
Less militarized
These stereotypes become a sort of guideline for the actions of individual police and the force used as a whole- understanding and developing distinctions between perceived 'bad' and 'good' demonstrators
employed public order but remained military in nature
Police often claim to be simply responding to external challenges, and that demonstrators' attitudes have clearly been stigmatized as responsible for the escalation
Trend towards the militarization of equipment as well as training
Challenges with Policing the Genoa Protest
Violent attacks against police forces previously identified as a new feature of street incidents
The Genoa Movement
while the movemement is mainly peaceful, some of its features do resonate with police stereotypes about 'bad' demonstrators
Communication between police officers
insufficient attention to professionalism
- police capacity- to assess properly its numerical strength, cohesion and the objectives of protest actions.
Failure of the coercive strategies
- Long period between relative social and political peace the millennium of large street demonstrations- Historical event, haven't had to face such a 'unheard of phenomenon
- Loose structure- rejection of leadership as well as a marshal body - made police feel uneasy and untrusting that the crowd could police themselves
Successful policing due to process of self critical reflection within the movement after Genoa
Better organizaed police and communication
special telephone set up to talk directly to protestors
Presence of a marshal body
set up political discussions between police and protestors which help adjust policing strategies
Accountability- accountability of subordinate officers
Communication wasn't direct- there was an issue where state police officers put in charge to lead carabinieri units could not command directly to the men appointed beneath them they had to go around and tell carabinieri officers to implement movement and direction, they also had communication devices for ground teams but was not connected to headquarters network. Learned to better coordinate communication and control because of this issue