GIULIANI AND GAGGIO v. ITALY JUDGMENT 63 time to regroup. As to the police officers who had been “a relatively short distance away but not in the immediate vicinity”, they had intervened as rapidly as possible. Moreover, the tragic events had occurred very rapidly (within some tens of seconds in total). 241. The Government also pointed out that, according to the autopsy report, the fact that the vehicle had driven over Carlo Giuliani's body had not entailed any serious consequences for the latter (see paragraph 50 above). The emergency services had intervened promptly at the scene. 242. In the Government's submission, the authorities and the law-enforcement agencies had had no other course of action available to them. Although Article 2 § 2 (c) of the Convention permitted the taking of life for the purpose of “quelling a riot”, the carabinieri had confined themselves to trying to disperse the violent demonstrators without causing damage and, after finding themselves trapped, to withdrawing in order to avoid being surrounded, which could have had more serious consequences. The attack on the jeep had been the result of the trap set by the demonstrators rather than of any malfunction. In view of the foregoing, the Court should avoid conveying the message that the State was to be held liable in all cases where rioting resulted in loss of human life. 2. The Chamber judgment 243. The Chamber examined the shortcomings complained of by the applicants, relating to the authorities' choice of communications system, the supposedly inadequate circulation of the service instructions for 20 July and the alleged lack of coordination between the law-enforcement agencies. It concluded that the latter had had to respond to sudden and unpredictable disturbances and that in the absence of an in-depth domestic investigation into the matter no immediate and direct link could be established between the shortcomings complained of and the death of Carlo Giuliani. Lastly, it held that the emergency services had been summoned with sufficient promptness, and stressed the severity of Carlo Giuliani's injuries (see paragraphs 228-244 of the Chamber judgment). 3. The Court's assessment (a) General principles 244. According to the Court's case-law, Article 2 may imply in certain well-defined circumstances a positive obligation on the authorities to take preventive operational measures to protect an individual whose life is at risk from the criminal acts of another individual (see Mastromatteo v. Italy [GC], no. 37703/97, § 67 in fine, ECHR 2002-VIII; Branko Tomašić and Others v. Croatia, no. 46598/06, § 50, ECHR 2009-...; and Opuz v. Turkey, no. 33401/02, § 128, ECHR 2009-...).