Once again, the women and men of the police forces 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.
197 people have been identified and accompanied to the police offices for the violence that occurred yesterday during the clashes at the marches organized in various cities by the 'Italy in the square' movement: 28 people were arrested, of which 12 minors and 6 foreigners: among these there would also be second generation migrants. There are 43 reported and 141 injured among the police. In Milan there were - according to the numbers recorded - around 5 thousand demonstrators, in Turin 3 thousand, in Bologna 2 thousand, in Brescia 600 and in Bergamo 800.
The police guaranteed the right to demonstrate with the usual professionalism, intervening with balance and care in critical situations where it was necessary to do so. In any case, the treacherous 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 suggest any form of impunity. The Interior Ministry's line, as always, is aimed at preventing violence to avoid worse trouble but without discounting individual responsibilities which will be contested in criminal courts. Anyone who becomes the protagonist of similar illegal actions will have the consequent response from the State which will apply the laws in force. This is evidently vulgar violence that will achieve no results. Thus the Minister of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi.
I reassure Mayor Sala: the adequacy of the safety devices is always verified afterwards. Also to better prepare for future challenges, in the face of emerging phenomena. But it is one thing to evaluate how to better prevent violence, it is another to shift attention away from those who commit it. The responsibility of those who use violence cannot be diluted in a controversy over the number of policemen, a completely unacceptable operation of mystification of reality. On this occasion and as always, the police were there in the square and worked well, avoiding worse trouble. Thus the Minister of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi, responding to the mayor of Milan, who spoke of an inadequate number of police forces at yesterday's march.
Of course, as far as we are concerned, violence is never the 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, who gather together starting from acronyms that are at least unknown to me. 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 otherwise even the right, dutiful distancing from the violence risks not being sufficient to organize a response, to understand what is happening particularly among the youngest.
I don't want to be a conspiracy theorist, I'm just saying 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 understand. And when this concerns young people, the very young, it is an issue that needs to be explored and understood. Because, I repeat, distancing and condemning violence, however necessary, otherwise risks not being sufficient.
We have nothing to do with the criminals seen in the demonstrations of recent days, we have always condemned them, but they cannot use violence 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.
It is not up to us to identify criminals, the Interior Minister must take care of that. But I want to say something very clear: we condemn violence. The authors of that violence are our enemies, our adversaries, because they not only overshadow but cancel the legitimate protests of those who today choose to take to the streets 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 what happened yesterday against us. 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 demands of those who took to the streets. Are there responsibilities of those who manage public order? I don't know, I just know that we don't know who these people are. However, yesterday I saw boys and girls opposing these violent men. I saw a girl trying to put out a fire, because among those who demonstrated yesterday, the vast majority were peaceful. Those who committed violence 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. But 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 violence to hold us accountable. Yesterday I even heard it said that we were the instigators, instigators of crime. A fact of unprecedented gravity for which this right takes responsibility, an accusation that we reject to the sender. Those who committed that violence are our adversaries. Avs is scary today, because it is a growing political force. 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 so they point the finger at us.
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.
The first estimate of the damage to shops and premises caused in yesterday's clashes in the center of Milan is over half a million euros. The general secretary of Confcommercio Milano, Marco Barbieri, explained this, speaking of strong concern because such a situation had never been seen. In the central area the estimate is over five hundred thousand euros in damage and lost income because the shops had to close at 5pm. There is concern for the future, because what is highlighted is a situation of social hardship but also trust in the institutions. Everyone must do their part.
