Britons in G8 riots face five years in jail

Internal links

G8 leaders promise a great deal while delivering next to nothing

Donald Macintyre: As an old peace protester, I have no time for anarchists

Five Britons arrested during the G8 summit demonstrations in Genoa were waiting last night to hear their fate as an Italian magistrate considered charges against them.

The five were taken during a police raid on the headquarters of the Genoa Social Forum (GSF) on Saturday night, when Molotov cocktails were among the items allegedly found.

The city's chief prosecutor, Luigi Francesco Meloni, said charges including conspiracy to cause damage, aggravated resistance of police and possession of explosives could be laid against those arrested.

If charged and convicted, the anti-globalisation campaigners face from six months to five years in prison. Last night colleagues said such charges would be excessive and unjustified, with doubts cast on the credibility of the discovery of explosives.

The Italian police have come under heavy criticism over the raid on the GSF office. At least three of the Britons are thought to have been injured but were not given access to British conuslar staff until yesterday. One of them, named by police as Mark Covell, 33, a website designer from west London, was under armed guard in hospital. His condition was described as "stable" after he suffered broken ribs, internal bleeding and an injured left arm in the raid.

The others arrested at the GSF offices were Nicola Anne Docherty, 28 and Richard Moth, 31, from the anti-capitalist organisation Globalise Resistance; Jonathan Norman Blair, 38, from Newport and Daniel MacQuillan, 35. Two other Britons, John Colin Blair, 19, and Lawrence Robert Miles, 25, were arrested at a different location on Saturday.

Protests to the arrests have been staged at Italian embassies and consulates in London, Sweden and Canada.