"Once again, the women and men of the police have had to face the violence of criminals who, also through organized groups, exploit the demonstrations to seek conflict and sow chaos.
My full solidarity and sincere thanks go to all of them. Because they were there to protect the safety of citizens, workers, traders and all the people who have the right to live their city without fear and without seeing it set on fire by gangs of thugs. We are with you." Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni wrote this in X, commenting on yesterday's clashes in the streets in various cities.
Piantedosi: "Yesterday actions by disorder professionals, investigations started"
"The police have guaranteed the right to demonstrate with the usual professionalism, intervening with balance and care in the critical situations in which it was necessary to do so. In any case, the treasonous actions carried out by these agitated professionals of disorder will not go unpunished. In addition to the numerous arrests, investigative activities have been launched to bring those responsible to justice. Nor can the minor age of some protagonists lead one to think of any form of impunity. The line of the Interior Ministry, as always, is tense to prevent violence to avoid worse troubles but without discounts on individual responsibilities which will be contested in criminal courts. Those who are involved in similar illegal actions will have the consequent response of the State which will apply the laws in force. This is obviously a vulgar violence which will not achieve any results". Thus the Minister of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi.
Fratoianni: "Processions called by an unknown 'Italy in the square', questions must be asked"
"Naturally, as far as we are concerned, violence is never an answer, it is always the problem. Because it obscures the protests and risks obscuring their reasons. However, we must read what happens, because distancing ourselves and condemning the violence is right and sacrosanct, but it is not enough when, as happened yesterday, we see young people, very young people, convening using acronyms that are unknown to me at least." Nicola Fratoianni of Avs said this on the sidelines of the national assembly of Terra Comune in Rome.
"Yesterday there was an acronym that called for demonstrations, Italy in the square, of which at least I cannot trace any origin: we need to ask ourselves questions, because - added the leader of the Italian Left - otherwise even the right, dutiful distancing from the violence risks not being sufficient to organize a response, to understand what is happening in particular among the younger ones".
So you have some suspicions about the matrix? "I don't want to be a conspiracy theorist, I'm just saying - Fratoianni's reply - that I tried to understand what's happening, because understanding is the job of those who do politics. Frankly there are many aspects that I can't put into perspective. And when this concerns young people, the very young, it's an issue that needs to be explored in depth, to understand. Because, I repeat, distancing oneself, condemning violence, however necessary, otherwise risks not being sufficient".
Schlein: "Let's condemn the criminals, but don't use them to cover peaceful protests"
"We have nothing to do with the criminals" seen in the demonstrations of recent days, "we have always condemned them, but they cannot use the violent to cover the voice of thousands of people who are peacefully protesting throughout Italy because they can no longer live". PD secretary Elly Schlein said this at the PD national assembly underway in Rome.
Bonelli: "The violent people in the square are criminals, the Interior Ministry must identify them. It is an ignoble right to exploit and accuse us"
"It is not up to us to identify the criminals, the Minister of the Interior must think about this. But I want to say something very clear: we condemn the violence. The authors of that violence are our enemies, our adversaries, because they not only overshadow but cancel the legitimate protests of those who choose to take to the streets today for a better school, against the high cost of living. And we are seeing it in these hours, an ignoble right is using and exploiting against us what happened yesterday". Angelo Bonelli, of Avs, said this on the sidelines of the national assembly of Terra comune, in Rome.
"But those who carried out that violence are not just criminals, but are our enemies because they raise and cancel the just claims of those who took to the streets", underlined the leader of Green Europe. Are there responsibilities of those who manage public order? "I don't know - he replied -, I only know that we don't know who these people are. However, yesterday I saw boys and girls opposing these violent people. I saw a girl trying to put out a fire, because among those who demonstrated yesterday, the vast majority are peaceful. Those who committed violence have damaged the reasons of those who today want a better Italy. And it is no coincidence that today the right uses this violence to point the finger at us, especially us at Avs, who are ontogenetically non-violent, because violence is absolutely antithetical to our way of acting. That violence in those squares helps this right to erase the economic and social disaster that exists in the country."
"There is an ignoble right that exploits the violence to hold us accountable. Yesterday I even heard it said that we were the instigators, the instigators of crime. A fact of unprecedented gravity for which this right assumes responsibility, an accusation that we reject to the sender. Those who committed that violence are our adversaries" Angelo Bonelli said again. For him "AVS is scary today, because it is a political force that is growing. And the clear and clear programmatic proposals that we have, from the point of view of economic and social policy, of work, of the environment, of energy, of international law, inspire fear. They know that these are the only ways to bring about real change in Italy, in Europe and also in the world. And therefore they point the finger at us".
Avs appeal to the other oppositions: "Now a great unified demonstration"
"The extraordinary demonstration of the associations of La Via Maestra and the CGIL, which yesterday peacefully filled the streets of Rome, sends us a clear and precise message: it is time for an alternative to a right-wing government that defends privileges and lobbies, does not provide answers to the malaise and problems of the country and does not address the social emergencies of families and businesses. Its only concern is to fill the arsenals and not the granaries". Thus in a note Angelo Bonelli and Nicola Fratoianni of Avs. "Yesterday's demonstration imposes on all oppositions the responsibility to launch a clear project for the alternative.
This is why we turn to the other oppositions: let's build together a large united demonstration against the high cost of living and to increase the wages of Italians. Let's meet to decide the date and platform together. The program we have to write lives if it crosses the mobilization of people. The time is now. We are ready", they conclude.
Clashes in Bologna, call on social media and the aim of emulating France
Yesterday's square in Bologna was convened by "Empty Carts", which brought together some of the acronyms of collectives and antagonistic realities of the city (Cua, Crash, Plat) in Piazza Minghetti, against the high cost of living. However, according to what we learn, numerous young people of foreign origin, mostly minors, then infiltrated the group. With a call on social media, via Telegram with groups created ad hoc: the kids also arrived from other cities in the region, with the declared aim of emulating what happened in France in the last period.
