No Tav: clashes in Val Susa. Meloni: violence will not bring the State to its knees. Mattarella: grateful to and in solidarity with the injured officers

The march towards the construction sites set off in the early afternoon of Saturday 25 July from Venaus (Turin) as part of the ‘Alta felicità’ festival. Leading the procession was a banner reading: ‘We were there, we are here, we will be there. Now and forever No Tav’. According to the organisers, there were around 20,000 participants. Among them were members of the most radical faction, who threw firecrackers, flares, stones and Molotov cocktails at the police deployed to protect the construction sites.

Tensions flared in San Didero, where the police responded to the throwing of firecrackers and stones with tear gas, dispersing the protesters. In Chiomonte, the Turin–Lyon construction site was attacked on several fronts by several hundred protesters. Firecrackers and stones were thrown, whilst the police responded with tear gas and water cannons. A group of around a hundred people was blocked by the police between two streams, whilst another, larger group was stopped at Bruzolo, between San Didero and Bussoleno, to prevent them from reaching the construction site. The protesters damaged some New Jersey barriers.

For reasons of public order, the A32 Turin–Bardonecchia motorway has also been closed between the Oulx and Susa Est junctions. On the Modane–Turin line, services have been suspended between Bussoleno and Borgone Susa due to the presence of demonstrators on the line.

“We must come down hard on these criminals,” comments Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini in a post that also features a photo of today’s clashes at the TAV construction sites in Piedmont. “Unacceptable. These are the poisonous and violent fruits of a left that has for too long fuelled hatred and attempts to discredit the police and anyone who wears a uniform. Full solidarity with the officers,” Deputy Prime Minister and League leader Matteo Salvini had already emphasised.

The other Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of Forza Italia, Antonio Tajani, describes ‘the guerrilla warfare unleashed by the No Tav movement against the police is shameful and unacceptable; once again, the police are defending, at the cost of their own safety, not only the security of the state and its citizens, but also the country’s growth through the construction of infrastructure essential to the economy and local communities. Our full solidarity goes to the Carabinieri, the police, the Guardia di Finanza, the local police and all public servants who, at this very moment, have once again become targets. And all this amid the deafening silence of a Left that is increasingly tolerant, if not downright complicit, with hooligans, violent thugs and subversive groups, from Bologna to Val di Susa’.

“In Val di Susa, a ferocious and violent mob of criminals attacked the police, who were merely trying to uphold the rules and laws of the state. This is unacceptable and intolerable. This was not a violent demonstration but a full-blown armed insurrection, and as such it should be treated.” Defence Minister Guido Crosetto wrote this in X.

The President of the Senate, Ignazio La Russa, “strongly condemns the serious acts of violence that took place today in Val di Susa during the demonstrations linked to the No Tav movement. The assaults on the construction site, the attacks on the police, the burning of Carabinieri vehicles and the damage caused are incidents that have nothing to do with the legitimate right to protest. I express my full solidarity and support for the men and women of the police force who, with professionalism and a sense of duty to the state, are committed to ensuring security and public order, whilst operating in conditions that are often particularly difficult. I hope that those responsible for these serious incidents will be identified and held to account for their actions’.

“From Bologna to Val di Susa, acts of violence against the police have always and only one hallmark: that of the insurrectionist and anti-establishment wing of the left, which the current opposition is unable to isolate and condemn,” reads the social media post by the Minister for European Affairs, Tommaso Foti.

The Minister for Public Administration and regional secretary of Forza Italia, Paolo Zangrillo, emphasises that what has taken place in Val Susa “is yet another subversive attack against the Italian State, its workers and its law enforcement agencies” and that “enough is enough; there is no longer any room for negotiation or tolerance”.

“On behalf of the entire Democratic Party, I express our full solidarity with the law enforcement officers who were attacked in Val di Susa. Our thoughts are with the men and women in uniform who were the targets of premeditated violence. It is intolerable that those carrying out a duty to protect the community should be subjected to violence. Dissent must never turn into aggression or intimidation. One’s ideas are defended through debate and by respecting the rules, not through violence.” This statement was made by Matteo Mauri, the Democratic Party’s national security spokesperson, a Member of the Chamber of Deputies and a member of the Constitutional Affairs Committee.

“We express our solidarity with the injured officers and condemn every act of violence against the police that took place today in Val di Susa. Those who commit acts of violence are not protesting: they are committing crimes and doing a favour to those who wish to defend the Turin–Lyon rail link, because it shifts the focus away from the futility of a project with spiralling costs and the resulting waste of public money. A day of clashes serves to divert attention from the €14.7 billion cost, the 127 per cent increase compared with initial estimates according to the European Court of Auditors, and the fact that on the Italia side not a single metre of the base tunnel has yet been excavated with the tunnel boring machine. Today we are facing a historic turning point: for the first time, it is genuinely possible to halt this project. And the first concrete step is the Avigliana–Orbassano section, for which the EU is calling for construction to begin by the end of the year, but which remains only partially covered and is still undergoing an environmental impact assessment: there, we can say ‘enough is enough’ and redirect those resources to the public transport that the valley has been waiting for for years.” This was stated in a joint statement by M5S MPs Chiara Appendino, Antonino Iaria and Elisa Pirro.

“The No Tav protesters who stormed the construction sites and set fire to two Carabinieri vans are criminals who must be held to account. Solidarity with the police, with the passengers forced to endure shameful inconvenience, and with the citizens of Val di Susa,” writes Italia Viva leader Matteo Renzi on his social media profiles.

“I condemn, without any ifs or buts, the violence currently taking place in Val di Susa. These are utterly unacceptable acts, for which there is no justification whatsoever, and which only serve to fuel a climate of tension that must be firmly rejected.” This statement was made by Angelo Bonelli, MP for the Green and Left Alliance and co-spokesperson for Europa Verde. “The defence of the land, the environment and the rights of communities is achieved through democratic mobilisation and non-violence. Those who resort to violence harm us all,” adds Bonelli.

“We express our full and complete solidarity with the uniformed officers who were injured and caught up in the unrest in Val di Susa. Violence against police officers, Carabinieri and members of the law enforcement agencies is unacceptable, under all circumstances: there is no ideological or social reason that can justify it.” This was stated in a press release by the national secretariat of Silp Cgil.

“What happened in Val Susa demonstrates once again that, when it comes to security, there cannot and must not be any institutional clashes, political divisions or controversies exploited for the sake of gaining support,” he continues. “It is not the political parties that go out into the squares and onto the streets of Val Susa: it is us who go there, and it is the police officers who go there to maintain public order, exposing themselves to extremely high risks.”

“Every year, without fail, the TAV construction site becomes a flashpoint because of a fringe group of violent individuals – criminals, as we have always described them – who stubbornly refuse to understand that their ideas cannot be imposed through force or guerrilla tactics,” the statement concludes. “We are not merely asking all institutions and politicians for the obligatory, ritualistic expressions of solidarity after the fact: we are calling for concrete action to protect those working on the streets, because otherwise, it is always and only us, together with law-abiding and defenceless citizens, who pay the highest price for these tensions.”

‘They have broken into the construction site in Chiomonte, and their tactics are increasingly reminiscent of full-blown guerrilla warfare. This is a clear sign of an attack on the established order. It is an attack on the state. Two Carabinieri vans were set alight under a veritable hail of firecrackers and Molotov cocktails thrown by these criminals, as well as homemade rockets and mortars.” So stated Felice Romano, general secretary of SIULP, in a statement. ‘This is a scene that has now been repeating itself for over fifteen years and has nothing to do with the right to express dissent,’ he added. “Police officers from all over Italia have been deployed to Val di Susa, and it is unacceptable that they should have to endure such acts of war, which have the sole and clear aim of causing fatalities amongst the police. The state is under siege at the hands of criminals who must be stopped, arrested and sent to prison.”

“In Val di Susa, the attacks on the police were of unprecedented violence. Firecrackers, stones, bottles and Molotov cocktails were thrown. Some of our colleagues were hit and their lives were put at risk. The victim was targeted deliberately and with intent; this constitutes attempted murder, and everyone present was complicit.” This was stated by the General Secretary of the SAP, Stefano Paoloni.

‘Violence must always be condemned, as must hatred towards those in uniform. There can be no exceptions; anyone who does not condemn it clearly and unequivocally is an accomplice,” adds Paoloni, expressing “solidarity and support for all our injured colleagues and for all those who were on duty, as they put their lives at real risk.”