Beating at Michelangiolo High School: the acquittal of the ‘Azione Studentesca’ pupils has been overturned

A new ruling on the assault on pupils at the Michelangiolo secondary school in Florence. The Court of Cassation has, in fact, quashed the judgement of the Court of Florence, which had ruled that no proceedings should be brought against two members of Azione Studentesca, a right-wing group, accused of having taken part in the attack on students from the left-wing collective at the Florentine secondary school in 2023.

The Supreme Court has, in part, upheld the appeal lodged by the Public Prosecutor’s Office challenging the decision to declare the offence of causing bodily harm to have lapsed because, in addition to the absence of a complaint, the two aggravating circumstances had ceased to apply, namely acting as part of a group and trivial motives, which would have made it possible to proceed ex officio. Now the Supreme Court has overturned that verdict, upholding the aggravating circumstance of acting as a group, whilst ruling out frivolous motives, which are not applicable in the case of clashes between opposing factions for political reasons.

On 18 February 2023, activists from Azione Studentesca had gathered outside the secondary school in Via della Colonna to hand out leaflets opposing digital schooling and globalisation. The two pupils from Michelangiolo, after reading the leaflet, tore it up and moved a rubbish bin closer to the right-wing activists. This gesture was seen as a provocation. The response was violent: the two pupils were shoved and beaten. A video, which immediately went viral, showed a young boy in red trousers lying on the ground. Standing over him was a young man punching and kicking him. The scene was filmed on a mobile phone by pupils waiting to enter the classroom. Another minor who had tried to defend his classmate lying on the ground met with a similar fate. The attackers were later identified as right-wing activists.

The Court of Cassation does not agree with the Court’s decision to exclude the aggravating circumstance of the class action, in which individuals under the age of 18, who were tried by the Juvenile Court. In the view of the judges of the Court of Cassation, ‘the fact that there was more than one victim does not diminish the intimidating capacity of the group of assailants for the purposes of ruling out the aggravating circumstance’.

There is, however, a consensus on the decision by the Court of to reject frivolous grounds when it comes to political clashes. Specifically, the reasoning of the trial judges is consistent in referring to the political context underlying the conflict between the two student groups. On the one hand, the Sum collective – of radical and anti-fascist inspiration – ; on the other, the activists of Azione Studentesca, who identify with right-wing positions, ‘noting how the events had their origins – as stated in the judgement – in the political confrontation that manifested itself in the reaction to the leafleting campaign carried out by activists from the opposing group to prevent their political propaganda’.