WORLD WORLDWIDE EUROPE ITALY - news journal UPDATE - (en) Italy, FAI, Umanita Nova #30: On October 5th, a demonstration against the genocide of the Palestinian population was held in Rome. (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 We adhered to our content, in addition to the rejection of genocide,

against the widening of the conflict, militarism, Italian military
spending and the repression of any form of dissent. ---- The
demonstration took on a particular connotation due to the ban,
exclusively political, decided by Minister Piantedosi and confirmed by
the Police Chief of Rome. After a year of weekly mobilizations for
Palestine in Rome, all carried out in an absolutely peaceful manner, the
desire to ban it for "reasons of public order" was so evident that they
explicitly declared that it was prohibited due to the arguments that
some of the participants could have supported.

This is a further authoritarian involution of a government that with the
Ddl 1660 tries to bury with years of prison any form of social and
solidarity opposition, that with the premiership wants an authoritarian
and strong government, that wants demonstrations to take place only on
topics that they decide and that wants to confine any form of opposition
to vote, every four years, for the clown of the moment.

The mainstream press has, with continuity on what it is doing on the
massacre in Gaza and Lebanon, supported the government's choices by
spreading terror about what could have happened, fearing war scenes in
Rome without questioning the legitimacy of the government's repressive
choices and the elimination of the freedom to demonstrate.

The police then tried in every way to prevent the arrival of the
comrades in the square. Since the evening before, Rome has been dotted
with roadblocks. Buses arriving in the city were stopped and all
travelers with political records were stopped. Several buses headed to
the march were stopped on the highways, the passengers were registered,
in one case loaded, in other cases sent back after having issued
expulsion orders to some of the passengers. On the highways leading to
Rome, traffic was reduced to one lane with checks on "suspicious" cars
and a consequent almost total block of traffic. Rome's train stations
were manned and besieged by suffocating checks with requests for
documents from anyone who appeared "strange". The square where the march
was called was completely surrounded by armored vehicles (often with
grates closing the spaces between them). You could only enter through
tiny gates and often those who entered were asked for documents.

According to the Police Headquarters, 1,600 demonstrators were
identified and 40 expulsion orders were issued: an absolutely arbitrary
measure against people whose only crime was wanting to demonstrate.

Despite these brutal intimidations (and despite the pouring rain)
several thousand comrades managed to reach Piazzale Ostiense, where the
gathering was planned. The Police Headquarters, to avoid further
problems, then decided to authorize the picket (still leaving the
roadblocks to get to the square, continuing to identify, intimidate and
sanction with expulsion orders those who arrived). In the end there will
be at least 15,000 comrades present, demonstrating that the
intimidations have not stopped the will to demonstrate.

In the square there was only a van with minimal amplification where a
few speeches took place, representing only a small part of the realities
present in the square, heard only by those present in the immediate
vicinity and with content, in many of them, sloganistic and fan-oriented.

For about two hours the picket was absolutely peaceful and calm. At this
stage three students from Righi (two girls and a boy) left carrying with
them a Palestinian flag. Not far from the gathering and despite all the
police present, they were attacked and beaten by four Zionists: the boy
ended up in hospital due to the kicks received when he fell to the ground.

In the square, given the uselessness of negotiating with the police to
be able to hold a march, some of those present tried to force their way
out, facing the armored vehicles that were closing the various exits in
a march. In the meantime, the demonstration was declared dissolved. When
they reached the height of the Via Ostiense crossing, there was some
jostling with the police. Nothing particularly sensational. There was a
confrontation with the police with the throwing of firecrackers and tear
gas canisters (those that are thrown by hand). Then suddenly the police
decided to gas the entire square, to wildly charge those who remained
there, and to also use a water cannon against the demonstrators. Six
arrests and several injured demonstrators and a couple of small marches
by those who had moved away from the square were the result of this last
part of the demonstration.

In the coming days we will make more in-depth political assessments. For
now we will limit ourselves to recording the application, before its
formal approval, of Ddl 1160, Piantedosi's threat of "a black autumn"
and the expansion of the massacres of the populations in Palestine,
Lebanon and throughout Southwest Asia.

Gruppo Anarchico Bakunin - FAI Roma e Lazio

https://umanitanova.org/cinque-ottobre-a-roma/
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