Riot detainee a timid man, says mother

The mother of a British man being held in custody in Genoa following vicious rioting in the city insisted today her son had nothing to do with the violence.

Janet Covell described her son Mark as a ‘‘timid man’’ and ‘‘a bit of a loner’’, but said he was not an aggressive person.

Police detained Mr Covell, a 33-year-old freelance web designer from Queen’s Park, west London, in a dramatic swoop on the school headquarters of the umbrella group co-ordinating peaceful protests, the Genoa Social Forum.

More than 90 people, including five Britons, were taken into custody following the action, on Saturday night.

The move followed a weekend of rioting in Genoa by anti-globalisation protesters in which one young Italian man died and hundreds of people were injured.

Retired bank clerk Mrs Covell, of Burghfield Common, near Reading, Berkshire, said: ‘‘Mark is not a rioting type person. He has his beliefs, but he wouldn’t go out and cause violence.

‘‘I received a phone call telling me he was in hospital. I was very surprised and I find it very distressing.

‘‘I haven’t been able to speak to him at all, but I’m told that he’s quite down and that he just wants me to know that he’s okay.’’

She added: ‘‘I’d say he was liberal minded, but not what I’d call aggressive. He’s a timid person really.

‘‘He’s not a rioter. He’s a bit of a loner.’’

Widowed Mrs Covell, who is in her sixties, said Mark received a blood transfusion after suffering head injuries, broken ribs and internal bleeding.

Mr Covell, who is under armed guard in hospital, is described as being stable.

His mother said she believed he might have gone to Genoa to report the protests on a website.

‘‘He likes computers and websites and I think that is why he went out there - to do interviews on it,’’ she said.

She was not aware that he had visited previous G8 conferences, she said, adding that she saw her son, a sociology graduate, infrequently, but kept in contact by phone.

Police named the other Britons arrested at the Genoa Social Forum headquarters as Nicola Doherty, 26, originally from Elgin, and Richard Moth, 32, who are both support workers for people with learning disabilities; Jonathan Blair, 38, from Newport; and Daniel MacQuillan, 35.

They remained in custody along with John Blair, 19, who was arrested earlier on Saturday.

A seventh Briton, named as Lawrence Miles, 25, was also in custody, the British Embassy in Rome said.

A spokesman added that under Italian law those detained by police had not officially been arrested, adding: ‘‘The investigating magistrates here have 48 hours to listen to the police and to say whether the arrest is confirmed.

‘‘That is why we are not getting access to them yet.’’

A number of the Britons were not carrying any papers, the embassy spokesman said, leading to some uncertainty over their personal details.

Meanwhile, passions continued to run high in Genoa last night despite the ending of the G8 summit.

GSF leader Vittorio Agnoletto called for demonstrations across Italy tomorrow to protest at the raid on the group’s headquarters, which activists have complained was excessively brutal.

TV footage of the raid showed police using riot shields and commentators said that afterwards it looked as though there had been a battle, with fresh blood on the floor.

Police said they raided the GSF headquarters because they had information that protesters who had earlier thrown bricks and bottles at nearby police were in the building.

Other protesters could be heard chanting ‘‘Assassins’’ at the police - a reference to 23-year-old Carlo Giuliani, who was shot dead by a Carabiniere during the rioting on Friday.

G8 leaders today said that the format of future summits would be changed in a bid to limit disruption from rioters.

Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien said next year’s summit would be held in a remote Rocky Mountain resort instead of his country’s capital Ottawa, and would be limited to 350 delegates.

Prime Minister Tony Blair angrily dismissed suggestions that the violence should mean a halt being called to meetings of world leaders, saying this would ‘‘stand the whole principle of democracy on its head’’.

Italian authorities have estimated that the damage in Genoa will cost almost £5m to put right.

Campaigners and human rights lawyers later signed a statement calling for Mr Moth and Ms Doherty to be allowed access to the British consul, alleging that police had beaten the pair.