The Disobbedienti emerged from the Tute Bianche during the demonstrations against the G8 summit in Genoa in July 2001. The "Tute Bianche" were the white-clad Italian activists who used their bodies - protected by foam rubber, tires, helmets, gas masks, and homemade sh ie ld s- in direct acts and demonstrations as weapons of civil disobedience. At the G8 summit in Genoa the “Tute Bianche” decided to take off their trademark white overalls and instead blend in the multitude of 300,000 demonstration participants. The transition from the "Tute Bianche” to the Disobbedienti, the disobedients, also marked a development from “civil disobedience” to "social disobedience." The repressive actions by the police force in Genoa brought the practice of social disobedience in from the streets to the most diverse social realms.