The participants in the procession also suffered various traumas during the police attacks: a young girl lost blood to the head
This is an urban guerrilla bulletin: during clashes between the police and pro-Palestinian demonstrators – who took to the streets of Rome on October 5 – several injuries were reported. Four men from the financial police and 26 from the national police were injured. Protesters also suffered various traumas during the charges: one young girl lost blood to the head, but many other participants required medical attention. In the meantime, the authorities issued 40 expulsion orders from Rome: to receive the order of demonstrators from various cities, including Varese, Livorno, Campobasso, Brindisi, Naples, Salerno, Turin, Florence, Milan, Perugia, Modena, Catania and Bari. four people were arrested during the clashes: they were taken to the police station. Two of them received free complaints for resistance, violence and injuries to a public official. The position of the other two is still under investigation.
The infiltrators at the parade
According to what was declared on the megaphone by the alleged organizers of the demonstration – in the afternoon – the protest should have been dissolved precisely to avoid clashes with the police. The call was not accepted by all the participants: a fringe broke away and headed towards the police blockade, triggering the clashes. The Ministry of the Interior, through generic ministerial sources, confirmed the presence of infiltrators at the march: “From what happened today in Rome, comes confirmation of the validity of the reasons underlying follow the ban issued by the Rome police headquarters. The decision was based on assessments linked to information acquired in recent weeks that suggested risks to public order. The first critical factor was represented by the infiltrators who wanted to take advantage of a large demonstration to blend into a larger procession and attack sensitive targets as well as the police forces, as actually happened in Piazzale Ostiense.” .
Meloni's note for injured police officers
The start of the procession
Around 5 p.m., around 10,000 people gathered in the heavily armored Ostiense Square in front of the Pyramid of Cestius to take part in the unauthorized midday pro-Palestinian demonstration. The participants defied the ban and controls and, around 2 p.m., began to invade the area around which all access routes are guarded by hundreds of police officers guarding the entrances. After three hours and a few attempts at negotiation to leave the square in a procession, the demonstrators headed towards Viale di Porta Ardeatina, still within the perimeter of the cordon held by the police. Some of them, with their faces covered, stood at the head of the procession, improvising a security service. And they began throwing paper bombs, glass bottles and other objects at the police surrounding the square, effectively turning it into a fence. Water cannons were pressed into service from armored police vehicles to repel and repel the violent. Then tear gas was fired and police began charging to push protesters back from the cordon toward the center of the square. A girl was injured. After a few minutes of tension, half an hour in total, the demonstration became peaceful again but most of the participants had already left the square with the start of the clashes, provoked by a small group of violent people.
Controls
The police headquarters had banned the gathering, organized on the weekend closest to the first anniversary of the Hamas attacks against Israel, October 7, 2023, and the TAR confirmed this decision. Around 1,600 people were checked by the police and 19 of them were taken to the police station to assess their expulsion from the municipality of Rome via an expulsion order. They would all be Italian activists, with a criminal or police record linked to public order offenses. The square is armored, each entrance is guarded by police officers – a thousand of them that day -, a helicopter flies over the place and the identity papers of those who want to enter are examined. Checks were also carried out at motorway toll booths in order to identify any individual intending to make the procession violent.
The slogans of the place
The most recurring slogans are those addressed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. The demonstrators are demanding, among other things, an end to the sale of arms or ammunition to Israel and the “genocide” in Gaza. “The revolution began on October 7,” we shout through the megaphone, in reference to the Hamas attacks of last year, “we demand an end to the bombings. Italy must adopt a clear line. There was a mystification about this parade. They told us it was a celebration of Hamas, but we are here to commemorate our dead, the dead Palestinians. The only ones celebrating here in Italy are the friends of Israel and the Italian war industry. » Protesters also waved Hezbollah flags.
The banning of the pro-Palestinian demonstration in Rome
In recent days, the procession in the streets of the capital had been the subject of controversy: banned by the police headquarters, whose decision was confirmed by the regional administrative court of Lazio, it nevertheless attracted demonstrators from all over the world. 'Italy. This is how the hypothesis of a static garrison was born, in Piazzale Ostiense, at the foot of the Pyramid of Cestius, to combine the desire and the right to make one's voice heard with the decision of the Administrative Court. On the other hand, certain groups, unable to carry out the procession today, said they were available to move the demonstration to October 12.
Piantedosi: “Illegal demonstration. I expect responsibilities”
Today's demonstration “is illegal,” said Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, “and will be 'managed with balance by our police forces, in whom I blindly trust.'” There is also ongoing meetings at the Police Headquarters and assessments are being made to understand the upcoming scenarios: I want to be optimistic, we are waiting for there to be a sense of responsibility and that in no case are there any significant repercussions on public order”, continued the minister, welcoming “the sense of responsibility of those who accepted the provision of the commissioner by saying that, independently, they would have moved each demonstration to next week.
Cover photo: ANSA/ANGELO CARCONI
