Florence and Pisa, police charges at pro-Palestinian demonstrations. Conte and Schlein: no more batons

A day of high tension in the squares of Florence and Pisa and consequently on the political level. Police charges in the morning in the centre of the two cities during student demonstrations against the war in Gaza. In Pisa, police officers deployed to protect one of the entrances to the Piazza dei Cavalieri charged students who were trying to cross the barricade. The entire area around the square, where the university's Pisa campus is located, was cordoned off by the police.

In Florence, the procession, made up of grassroots unions, students and the Palestinian community, started from Piazza Santissima Annunziata and marched through the centre to Piazza Ognissanti and then continued along the Lungarno towards the consulate. A few dozen metres away was the barricade of the forces of law and order and when the demonstrators tried to advance, a number of lightening charges were fired.

"We are deeply disturbed by what happened today in Pisa and Florence and express our solidarity and sympathy with the students. As citizens, parents, university rectors, we believe that the use of violence is inadmissible in the face of the peaceful manifestation of ideas'. Thus in a note Luigi Ambrosio, director of the Scuola Normale Superiore and Sabina Nuti, rector of the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna on what happened this morning in the two Tuscan cities.

Cariche della polizia in mattinata nel centro di Pisa durante il corteo studentesco che voleva raggiungere piazza dei Cavalieri. I poliziotti schierati a protezione di uno degli accessi alla piazza hanno caricato gli studenti che stavo cercando di oltrepassare lo sbarramento, 22 Febbraio 2024. ANSA

Immediate political reactions. "Enough baton blows on students,' wrote Elly Schlein, Pd secretary, 'The images from Pisa are unacceptable: students trapped in an alley and baton-charged by the police. We immediately submit a parliamentary question to Minister Piantedosi for clarification. There is a climate of repression that we have already challenged last Wednesday to the minister in Palamento. We defend the freedom to demonstrate peacefully'.

"Once again truncheons against those protesting the ongoing massacre in Gaza. This time in Pisa, against students, very young ones. There have been other episodes in Florence. These are worrying images, not worthy of our country. This cannot be the State's response to dissent'. Thus Giuseppe Conte on twitter.