Since the early hours of this morning, the Turin state police have been carrying out 14 house searches in different parts of Italy against antagonistic militants, as part of the investigation into the events that occurred during the national demonstration on January 31st against the eviction of Askatasuna. The searches were delegated by the judicial authority.
As part of the investigation, the public prosecutor requested 19 precautionary measures for crimes that were allegedly committed, in various capacities, on the occasion of the parade. On 31 January, on the sidelines of the demonstration organized against the eviction of the social center in Turin, which took place on 18 December, violent clashes occurred between antagonists and the police.
The officers had been attacked with rockets, flares, paper bombs, stones and bottles. The riots continued for about two hours. During the clashes, concentrated mainly in the Corso Regina Margherita area, some groups of masked demonstrators set fire to bins and a police vehicle. An officer was also surrounded and attacked by a group of attackers and hit with a hammer.
Attempted murder is also disputed
There is also the accusation of attempted murder among the crimes for which the Turin prosecutor's office has requested 19 precautionary measures against antagonistic militants for the clashes that occurred on January 31st, during the demonstration against the eviction of Askatasuna. This morning the police notified the decrees scheduling preventive interrogations, with the support of the police headquarters in Genoa, Cagliari, Florence, Imperia and Reggio Emilia, and carried out 14 house searches. The other charges include aggravated resistance and injury to a public official, damage, misrepresentation, possession of offensive objects and robbery. During the clashes, a police vehicle, with an officer on board, and some barricades were set on fire. Another policeman had been attacked with kicks and hammer blows.
Askatasuna's comment: 'Operation to punish some'
"In the requests for precautionary measures, various crimes are accused with the intention of giving responsibility to some for what was a demonstration of popular anger which saw the participation of over 50 thousand people". This was stated by the Turin Antagonist Network, to which the independent workers of the Askatasuna social center belong, after the searches carried out this morning. For the clashes of January 31, the prosecutor's office requested 19 precautionary measures "ranging from prison to the obligation to sign, all of which provide for the preliminary passage to the guarantee interrogation", they say on social media.
The antagonists also contest the actions of the police during the clashes. "We also remember the massive and violent use by the police of tear gas fired at eye level, which was discussed in a dossier and in various journalistic investigations. Violence is that which comes from above and which is perpetrated every day against those who must be put to work for interests inimical to ours", they argue.
The Network then returns to the eviction of Askatasuna, which took place on 18 December 2025. "And yet, the only thing that is certain is that 18 December 2025 closed a door but opened up a space of possibilities that still lives today in everyday struggles", we read in the post. In a subsequent comment, the Network expresses solidarity with the people involved in the investigation. "Turin stands in solidarity with those affected by this operation, an attempt to punish some for a day that remains in history but which did not end with the ashes of an afternoon, on the contrary, it consolidates a perspective of collective struggle for the freedom of everyone", they conclude.
