The doctor: “Cospito is very tired and weary”
“In addition to liquids, water and especially you, Cospito is taking two tablespoons of sugar and a teaspoon of salt, while he no longer takes supplements and vitamins”. The doctor reported seeing the 55-year-old for the first time “very tired and weary: he arrived at the visit walking on his legs but immediately sat on the couch”. He has lost another kilo, he weighs 70, a threshold “at the limit” for a man of his height.
Urban warfare scenes
After the rally in Piazza Solferino, in the center of Turin, the anarchists moved in procession, leaving a trail of devastation: shop windows broken, windows from dozens of parked cars, torn down road signs and advertising totems, bins set on fire, thrown big firecrackers, paper bombs, stones and bottles. In the late afternoon of Saturday, the forces of order had to intervene with fire hydrants and tear gas in the area of the Porta Palazzo market, to keep the demonstrators away from the center of Turin, after scenes of urban warfare.
The gathering in the heart of Turin
The gathering of anarchists, whose tam tam had begun many days ago, had begun in mid-afternoon in Piazza Solferino, a few hundred meters from the heart of Turin. But a dense cordon of police and carabinieri, with the deployment of numerous vehicles, immediately blocked all access routes to the institutions’ offices and to the streets of the center crowded, as every Saturday, by thousands of people from Turin and tourists.
“If Cospito dies, those responsible will be executed”
Among the demonstrators to speak, the 76-year-old veteran Pasquale Valitutti, the only one who agreed to speak to journalists: “If Alfredo Cospito dies, those responsible will historically be executed by anarchists. This – he specified – is my personal opinion. My hope. When the conditions are created, those responsible will be executed. Not now, not by me and not by those who are here in the square. Anarchists are the only political group that forgets the balance of power and reasons of opportunism to do justice. They know how to do it. And they do it”.
Destroyed shop windows, set fire to rubbish bins
After an abundant hour of static gathering, the demonstrators, behind the banner “Alongside Alfredo, alongside those who fight”, moved in procession to the cry of “Fuori Alfredo dal 41 bis”. Along their way they defaced dozens of walls, starting with the headquarters of the Banca del Piemonte, smashed shop windows, destroyed and set fire to waste bins. Then began the throwing of paper bombs and large firecrackers and the vandalism of parked cars, especially in via della Consolata, near the sanctuary of the same name.
Launch smoke bombs and firecrackers
The obelisk in Piazza Savoia, a monument to the Siccardi laws which led to the suppression of the ecclesiastical courts, was also defaced. The tension continued until the evening, with stampedes between customers of the premises and market vendors between Porta Palazzo and the Dora river, with the launch of smoke bombs and firecrackers on one side and tear gas on the other. At least 5 anarchists have been stopped by the police.
Helmets and gas masks seized
Shields, helmets, flammable liquids, pyrotechnic devices: this is part of the material seized by the police. To damage windows and cars, the demonstrators also used the road sign poles they had torn up and a cast iron manhole cover.
The two officers injured
The two injured policemen are an operator of the Milan mobile department hit by a paper bomb in the leg and a scientific police operator hit in the hand by a glass bottle thrown by demonstrators.
Fontana: “Firm sentence for vandalism”
“I express my firmest condemnation for the acts of violence that took place in Turin. To the police officers who were injured, to the citizens and to those who have been damaged by the vandalism of the demonstrators, I express my deepest solidarity and closeness”. This is what was written in a note by the Speaker of the Chamber, Lorenzo Fontana.