Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is pressing ahead with tougher security laws after violent left-wing protests in Turin left around 100 police officers injured.
The push comes amid the circulation of graphic videos on social media showing police officers being kicked and struck with a hammer by leftist protesters during demonstrations against the eviction of the illegally occupied Askatasuna anarchist ‘social centre’. Meloni hopes the footage will help build support for a new security package.
The package will include a crackdown on knife crime and so-called ‘procedural protection’ for officers who use force in self-defence.
Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said on Friday that measures should also include a “crackdown on the reception of unaccompanied minors, stop to family reunifications and many other concrete and common-sense measures to guarantee more safety for the men and women in uniform and for law-abiding citizens.”
Meloni said that the package discussed during a summit on Monday will “guarantee the safety of citizens and public order.” The PM is looking to “address an appeal to the opposition for close institutional collaboration.”
Ho presieduto questa mattina a Palazzo Chigi una riunione per fare il punto sui recenti gravi episodi di violenza contro le Forze dell’ordine e sui provvedimenti da adottare a garanzia della sicurezza dei cittadini e dell’ordine pubblico.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Antonio Tajani, who criticised the weekend’s protesters as “spoiled brats, the rowdy and cowardly thugs from the social centers,” added that the proposed package “is the best antidote to immediately block the extreme left’s attempt to bring violence back to the streets of Italian cities.”
All political forces should isolate the violence and approve the security package. Institutions should unite in support of democracy and freedom and in defense of law enforcement.
Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi will report on the clashes in Turin on Tuesday, February 3rd. A vote by the Council of Ministers on Meloni’s security package will follow on Wednesday, February 4th.
Michael Curzon is a news writer for europeanconservative.com based in England’s Midlands. He is also Editor of Bournbrook Magazine, which he founded in 2019, and previously wrote for London’s Express Online. His Twitter handle is @MichaelCurzon_.
