Rival groups, Molotov cocktails and terrorism in Bari. One hundred searches carried out across Italia

The State Police and the DIGOS carried out personal and home searches on around 100 people identified in connection with the serious disturbances and damage caused during the demonstrations on 17 and 18 October. Among them were 51 minors. The operation, carried out under a court order and partly on the authorities’ own initiative, took place in 18 cities, mainly in the north: Aosta, Arezzo, Bari, Bergamo, Bologna, Bolzano, Como, Cremona, Florence, Genoa, Lodi, Monza, Naples, Padua, Pescara, Varese, Verbania and Verona. The operation was prompted by the violence that erupted during the street marches: clashes with the police, and the vandalism of shops and street furniture. The alleged offences, of various kinds, include: resisting a public official, causing bodily harm, criminal damage, possession of weapons or objects capable of causing harm, and trespass on land and in buildings.

In Bari, the DIGOS has carried out an operation on the orders of the magistrates. According to the Bari Anti-Mafia Directorate (DDA), ‘it has emerged that a Telegram group called “23 October Bari Uprising” (accessible to anyone with a Telegram account), whose participants are engaging in activities that condone the offence referred to in Article 419 of the Italian Criminal Code for the purposes of terrorism, by promoting and publicising (including by issuing invitations and gathering supporters) imminent mass demonstrations to be held in the centre of Bari, aimed at committing the offence referred to in Article 419 of the Italian Criminal Code, including through the use of weapons and Molotov cocktails’.

The Turin Police Commissioner has issued twelve orders, the majority of which concern minors, “as part of preventive measures relating to the demonstrations and protests that took place in Turin between 15 and 19 October, relating to the cost of living and rising fuel prices, as well as educational issues in general, organised by spontaneous groups of citizens and by activists linked to Askatasuna and its student affiliates”. Nine are urban stadium bans — seven for one year, one for eight months and one for six months — for offences committed at public demonstrations: resisting a public official, possession of weapons and objects capable of causing harm, and misrepresentation. Three are verbal warnings, for possession of weapons and objects capable of causing harm, causing bodily harm and trespassing on land and buildings.

The Padua Police Headquarters has served search warrants issued by the DIGOS and urban DASPO orders on 11 young people, eight of whom are minors, who are alleged to have planned looting via chat messages ahead of two demonstrations scheduled for tomorrow. Police Commissioner Marco Odorisio summoned the young people and their parents this morning and issued four verbal warnings, five five-year ‘Daspo fuori contesto’ orders, five five-year ‘Dacur’ orders and 27 formal warnings. The Venice Juvenile Prosecutor’s Office is proceeding with charges of incitement to disobey public order laws and to foster hatred between social classes.

Officers intercepted a chat on Instagram in which plans were being made to cause damage and carry out raids on businesses in the historic centre. The group’s members were planning to infiltrate the demonstrations, advising each other to dress in “all black” and to “bring fireworks, firecrackers and smoke bombs to throw at the cops”. Two shoe shops in the city centre were also singled out for looting. The profile, followed by around 200 people, belongs to a 17-year-old with a criminal record for two robberies and causing bodily harm; 11 others of the same age had similar records, some of whom had acted in concert with him. Most were second-generation Italians of North African origin, five of whom had already been served with DACUR orders and verbal warnings.

This is the second preventive operation carried out by the Padua DIGOS. A week ago, on the eve of the national student protest, eight searches were carried out on eight minors on charges of aggravated incitement to commit a criminal offence: they were planning disturbances involving attacks on the police headquarters and the looting of shops in the historic centre. On the same day, a further eight minors were summoned to the police headquarters with their parents, and the Chief of Police imposed personal preventive measures on all of them.

All the young people identified by the Carabinieri at yesterday’s student demonstrations in Pomigliano d’Arco and Marigliano, in the Naples area, are minors. All of them will face urban Daspo orders. Three — a 14-year-old and two 16-year-olds — are believed to be responsible for setting off firecrackers during the march in Pomigliano d’Arco, in which around 300 young people took part. Near the Matilde Serao school on Via Carducci, a 17-year-old schoolgirl felt unwell following the close-range explosion of a firecracker: she was treated at the scene by the 118 emergency services and is now well. The three were found to be in possession of three ‘Kobra’-type firecrackers, several boxes of small, over-the-counter firecrackers, three smoke bombs, a signal flare, a balaclava and a Salvador Dalí mask – the one made famous by the TV series ‘Money Heist’. A 16-year-old was also found to have a small amount of cannabis in his pockets. They have been handed over to their parents and will be reported to the Juvenile Prosecutor’s Office in Naples. In Marigliano, near the Villa Comunale, where 200 young people had gathered, the Carabinieri stopped a 15-year-old with his face covered by a balaclava and a glass-breaking hammer in his rucksack. He has been handed over to his parents and will be reported to the authorities.