The parents of junior art major Morgan Hager flew to Italy Wednesday morning to find their daughter, who was beaten and arrested during a police raid on anti-globalization protesters of the G-8 summit in Genoa, Italy.
Hager’s mother, Susan, said the U.S. Consulate in Italy provided her with detailed information about her daughter Tuesday afternoon after waiting for more than 48 hours knowing only that she was under arrest and hospitalized.
A student in the Honors College who comes from Portland, Hager suffered a fractured arm and bruises on her back, arms, shoulders and legs, Brian Oberle, a U.S. Consulate general in Milan, Italy, told Susan Hager. But she added that Oberle said her daughter’s injuries could have been much worse compared to others who were arrested in the raid and injured over the weekend during the protest.
Hager and others are being charged with conspiracy to engage in looting and vandalism, resisting arrest and possession of arms for having sticks that could be used as weapons, Susan Hager said.
According to news reports from Genoa, as members of the eight largest industrial nations began their summit to combat slowing economic growth Friday, police shot and killed one protester.
Hager was staying in a gymnasium that the Genoa Social Forum had set up as a safe place for protesters to sleep, Susan Hager said. A major media center had been set up next door. But according to other news reports, when Genoa police received a tip that the forum was also housing members of the Black Bloc, a group that has advocated and performed violence at other anti-globalization protests, officers stormed the gym and arrested 93 protesters. Sixty protesters were later treated for injuries.
Although protesters fought back when the police began to use force, Susan Hager said her daughter has never viewed violence as an avenue for social change, and is certain her daughter is not affiliated with any group that would advocate violence during a protest.
One of Hager’s University roommates, junior linguistics major J.D. Leahy, agreed that although Hager is one of many people upset with the push for globalization, she would never be part of a destructive protest.
“She is one of the most peace-loving, soft-hearted people I’ve ever met,” said Leahy, who met Hager during IntroDUCKtion before their freshman year. “She’s an intelligent person with an inquisitive and open mind.”
On Monday, about 20 of the arrested protesters were charged and released, most of them with deportation orders, Susan Hager said. She added that she hopes her daughter will receive the same treatment.
Hager had left a month early for an exchange trip to Siena, Italy. In an e-mail to her parents, Hager said she would attend the protests, but she was sleeping in a safe place.
Although some of Hager’s friends from Eugene knew she was going to Genoa for the protest, few got word of her arrest until her mother began calling to let them know.
Leahy said he heard Hager would be in Italy, but was learning of developments of her arrest and hospitalization for injuries as her parents got word.
The Hagers hope to be back in Oregon by Monday.