Demonstration for Cospito in Turin, damage and injuries
Thirty-four protesters arrested, four of whom risk arrest, two injured policemen, smashed shop windows, damage to parked cars and tear gas. This is the balance sheet of the procession in solidarity with Alfredo Cospito, the anarchist on hunger strike detained under the 41 bis, which saw about 500 people from all over Europe parade in the center of Turin. “Among the things I miss the most is contact with my family. I would like to be able to give them a caress, but even this is not allowed to me and it is inexplicable, unacceptable” said Cospiro after seeing the two brothers in recent days , as reported by the Press. “I see no horizons, not a green meadow, but only a square of blue sky that stands out beyond the walls: a sky with grates”.
Meeting point, in the afternoon, in Piazza Solferino. The streets in the center are already armored and the procession has not yet started when the demonstrators tell the reporter that “seven of us were stopped by the forces of order in corso Matteotti and taken to the police station”. “Alfredo mustn’t die and if he dies we’ll make him pay”, threatens another. “Today whoever resists 41-bis, which is torture and offends humanity, does so by taking into account that one can die. For those who have chosen the revolution, death is a sister of life”, says another.
Incamminatisi towards Porta Palazzo, the anarchists they smashed the windows encountered on their way, including those of the Reale Mutua headquarters in Corso Siccardi. Some parked cars were also damaged and road signal poles uprooted.
Numerous explosions were heard in via della Consolata, the road that leads to corso Regina Margherita, a few tens of meters from the Porta Palazzo market. Just one paper bomb caused the injury of an agent of the Milan mobile department, shot in the leg, while a scientific police operator was injured in the hand by a glass bottle thrown by the demonstrators.
The forces of order, also equipped with water cannons, then fired tear gas at the demonstrators at the Porta Palazzo market, when the police and anarchists found themselves about fifty meters apart.
Maces, hammers, shears, large firecrackers, gas masks, helmets, shields and other clothing to face the street fight. It is part of the material seized by the Turin digos from anarchist demonstrators who arrived in the Piedmontese capital from all over Italy and abroad (France, Spain, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Greece) to demonstrate against the 41-bis to which Alfredo Cospito is subjected.
There are a total of 350 anarchist demonstrators controlled and identified by the Turin police. Digos reported 34 people and imposed 11 expulsion papers. Four people were arrested during the riots in Porta Palazzo and now risk arrest.
The commissioner: “The damage to private individuals is incomprehensible”
“Protesters found sensitive targets, for example banks, but no one could have imagined that private cars and the windows of traders, who must make ends meet in an honest and dignified manner, would also be devastated. We are sure we have identified most of the perpetrators of these crimes”. Thus the questore of Turin, Vincenzo Ciarambrino, after the riots that took place in the city during the demonstration.
“When these realities move, damages are the order of the day – added the commissioner – but I cannot understand those without criteria. I can understand a theme damage, which should not be done anyway because it is a crime, but the damages I don’t conceive them for private individuals”.
“We have been vigilant and attentive for some time. We follow the evolution of the judicial and health process of Cospito, our central and local investigative systems are working so we are ready for any eventuality”, added Ciarambrino, “I cannot exclude other demonstrations in Turin , we will make the appropriate assessments also in the light of what happened tonight”.
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