Main points
- More than 100 security officers were injured during protests against the closure of the Askatasuna cultural center in Turin, and 10 people were detained.
- The Italian government condemned the riots as an “attack on the state,” and Prime Minister Giorgia Maloni accused the participants of attempted murder.
Protests have broken out in Italy / Collage by Channel 24, photos by dpa and the Italian government
More than 100 security forces were injured during protests against the closure of a left-wing cultural center in the northern Italian city of Turin on January 31, and dozens of people were detained and arrested. Prime Minister Meloni called the events an “attempted assassination.”
This is reported by DPA and ANSA.
What is the reason for the protests in Italy?
Italians have taken to the streets to protest the eviction of the Ascatasuna cultural center, a meeting place for left-wing forces in Turin for decades, which was closed just before Christmas.
This was preceded by a raid by pro-Palestinian protesters on the headquarters of the newspaper La Stampa, the offices of the defense company Leonardo, etc.
A total of 15,000 people took part in the demonstration. There were numerous Palestinian flags in the crowd.
By evening, the peaceful demonstration had turned into a riot. Approximately 1,500 people separated from the general crowd.
They, wearing dark clothing, masks, helmets, and balaclavas, threw rocks, Molotov cocktails, and other objects at the police, and also set fire to garbage cans and a police van.
Police responded with tear gas and water cannons to disperse the crowd.
During the clashes, one protester was taken to the hospital with head injuries.
Among the injured law enforcement officers is a 29-year-old policeman who was beaten on the ground by people. He suffered serious injuries, but his condition is not critical.
Italy's far-right government condemned the riots as an “attack on the state,” and Prime Minister Giorgia Maloni accused the rioters of attempted murder.
When you hit someone with a hammer, you do it knowing that the consequences could be very, very serious. This is not a protest, this is not a confrontation. This is called attempted murder,
– emphasized Meloni.
Protests around the world: latest news
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In Minneapolis, USA, federal immigration agents shot and killed a 37-year-old man during an operation on January 24. The city was then engulfed in a wave of protests. The deceased was Alex Jeffrey Pretty, a registered nurse in the intensive care unit at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center. He had a gun permit, no criminal record, only traffic tickets.
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Denmark and Greenland are also protesting. Recently, there were mass protests there against Trump's desire to seize the Arctic island. Thousands of protesters took to the streets of cities, chanting slogans in support of democracy and human rights.
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And in Iran, up to 20,000 people may have died during the protests. People came out because of the fall of the Iranian rial, which had exceeded 1.4 million dollars due to sanctions against Iran, imposed in part over its nuclear program.