Palermo, officers attacked by residents in the Falsomiele neighborhood during a chase

Residents of the Falsomiele neighborhood of Palermo lashed out last evening against the policemen who wanted to stop three motorcyclists riding large-engined motorbikes without license plates competing with each other. The officers had not respected the warning and a chase began. Near Largo dei Pinguini, six officers out of three police cars were surrounded and the cars were hit by stones thrown to protect the escape of the motorcyclists. Some officers were injured. Two attackers would have been identified and blocked in a warehouse. Other residents took to the streets attacking the police. About ten police cars arrived to help, supported by the police. Gunshots would have been fired in the air to disperse the threatening crowd.

"One of the many attacks we suffer, but what leaves us truly embittered, disappointed and saddened is seeing that many citizens of that neighborhood threw themselves against the police cars. They were the ones who hindered the policemen. And it is good to know that they threw everything at our kids: iron poles, tables, chairs, stones and one of them even brandished a weapon. A scenario that cannot represent our working reality, in a democratic country like ours, since such scenes evoke a real civil guerrilla war, an attack on the heart of the democratic state to affirm the anti-state over our civil coexistence". Thus in a note Felice Romano, General Secretary of the Siulp police union.

"A devastation unleashed, I repeat, by the citizens and not by the criminals and the colleagues in the end had to fire some shots in the air to try to slow down this guerrilla warfare - he adds -. The time has come to stop because this has now become a sad constant in some areas: that of citizens throwing themselves in defense of the criminals. This is why we ask the Minister of the Interior and the Chief of Police to launch intervention plans that no longer allow connivance to protect those crimes".

"The stones thrown at the officers this night are stones against the State." This was stated by the deputy general secretary of the Sap police union, Giuseppe Coco, according to whom "seven police officers were injured and two police cars were destroyed, resulting from the stone-throwing started by residents against the police to prevent the arrest of some citizens fleeing on a scooter after not having stopped when the authorities stopped". "They threw everything at the patrol - continues Coco - but the stones against their colleagues are stones against the State, they are the result of a sense of impunity that is developing in a segment of the population that no longer recognizes those who try to guarantee security and civil coexistence. Tonight's violent attack against the Police and Carabinieri tomorrow could be against a doctor or a teacher, against anyone who works for the good of society, democracy and the freedom of this country".

Eight police officers ended up in hospital injured after being stone-thrown in Falsomiele in Palermo last night. Four policemen had a prognosis of seven days and four others of five. Two of the cars were very damaged, others had some damage and after repairs they will be able to return to the road. It all started in via dell'Airone. Here the officers ordered three men on motorcycles to stop. One of them was driving without a license. Among other things, he had already been found without a license on a motorbike. A chase was born. One of the three managed to escape. Two - a 27-year-old young man and a 52-year-old man - were blocked near a farmhouse. Here drugs, hashish and cocaine, a dog swatter and some money would have been found.