Return to
Contents page
CHAPTER 40
FIAT
PUBLIC SERVICE VEHICLES
Photo: Public service vehicles…
Police armoured cars
manufactured by FIAT
Credit: di
Ferraris
On 12 May 1979, the new breed
of FIAT's “public service vehicles" made their appearance in the streets
of Rome. Blue painted armoured cars, armed and equipped for the riot police. These “progressive" public service vehicles were designed by
FIAT for sale to repressive regimes in Latin America.
Now they find an application in “democratic" Italy. They turned out in force to
prevent mourners marching to the memorial stone erected on Garibaldi Bridge
to the memory of Giorgiana Masi,
killed by police bullets a year previously. They blockaded the university to
prevent a solidarity meeting for the "autonomy" comrades arrested a
month previously, on April 7th. Anyone who openly tried to photograph their
antics had their film confiscated.
Return to
Contents page
_______________________________________
Translated
by Ed Emery
Extracted from: THE BOOK OF FIAT: Insurrection,
insubordination, occupation and revolutionary politics at the FIAT motor
company – 1907-1982
Published:
Red Notes / May Day Rooms
First
published in 2020