Consul to visit British G8 prisoners

Police swooped on a protest organisation

Diplomats are to be granted access to five British protesters held by Italian police following the G8 summit in Genoa.

Four of the demonstrators have not been allowed to see consular staff or lawyers since they were seized in a raid on the headquarters of a major protest group on Saturday.

They probably were in a state where they could not be publicly presented without it becoming obvious to their families and the press what had been done

Jonathan Neale

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said the British consul in Milan, Alan Reuter, was due to visit the Britons later on Wednesday, after they had gone before an examining magistrate.

The anti-capitalist group to which the protesters belonged has claimed the UK authorities have been ignoring the five to keep them out of the public eye.

Internal bleeding

The British consul will see Richard Moth, 32, from north London, Daniel MacQuillan, 35, and Jonathan Blair, 38, from Newport, South Wales, at the police centre where they are being held in Pavia, northern Italy.

Mr Straw said the prisoners would get access to the consul

He will also visit Mr Moth's girlfriend Nicola Doherty, 27, at a separate centre in Voghera, and Mark Covell, 33, from London, who remains in hospital suffering from internal bleeding and broken ribs.

Mr Covell has already been seen once by the consul, on Sunday morning, shortly after he was admitted to hospital.

Two other Britons arrested during the summit, Lawrence Miles, 25, and John Colin Blair, 19, originally from Ballymena, Northern Ireland, had earlier been freed by police.

The Foreign Office spokeswoman said the visit would come after the five had been seen by an examining magistrate, although she was not clear whether the hearing had taken place.

Campaigners for Miss Doherty and Mr Moth had complained they were being held under conditions that breached their human rights.

'From the top'

Jonathan Neale, of Globalise Resistance, the anti-capitalist group to which the pair belonged, said they had been further beaten while in police custody and that pressure was being exerted "from on top" to keep them out of the public eye.

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Mr Neale's claims of further beatings would be investigated.

Violence surrounded the weekend summit

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "If there are allegations of assault they of course need to be investigated."

Mr Neale also claimed the orders to leave the couple in limbo had come from Prime Minister Tony Blair in a bid to back his own stance on the riots.

The Foreign Office dismissed the claim as "rubbish".

Miss Doherty's parents have supported allegations by the solicitor for their daughter and Mr Moth that they had been assaulted by police and denied consular access.

However, Italian authorities have defended the actions of the police, who, they said, were faced by a section of protesters intent on provocation.

The couple were arrested with 88 other people when police swooped on the Genoa Social Forum (GSF) on Saturday night after two days of anti-G8 summit rioting.