Security: Fdi’s anti-vandalism proposal – punish them for criminal association
A new battle is underway, with the League seeking to introduce the offence of ‘street terrorism’. The centre-right’s security campaign, driven by a series of criminal laws, shows no sign of abating
Key points
The Susa Valley is ablaze once more at the hands of No Tav? And so the race to introduce new criminal laws is back on within the ruling coalition. The Lega is dusting off its proposal to introduce the offence of ‘street terrorism’; Fratelli d’Italia has announced a bill to extend the offence of criminal association to vandals, even if the association is not stable or hierarchical.
The Melonians’ idea
Fdi’s proposal, announced by the programme manager Francesco Filini, is to also take into account acts of violence such as those staged at Tav construction sites as the result of a criminal association – even ‘if not stable or hierarchical, provided it is structured’ – and thus to make the perpetrators liable to prosecution for criminal association. “It is time to severely punish those who act in a coordinated and organised manner to attack our law enforcement agencies or to lay waste to our cities,” explained the MP. “This is also a way of protecting important projects such as the TAV.”
The scope of criminal association
According to the Prime Minister’s party, this proposal would be more sound from a constitutional point of view than the League’s proposal put forward by the Under-Secretary of State for the Interior Nicola Molteni, because it would not involve introducing yet another new offence, but merely extending an existing offence to cover cases of coordinated attacks against law enforcement agencies and the destruction of public and private property. Furthermore – as Fdi points out – the offence of criminal association is provided for in the Criminal Code precisely to protect public order.
The fight against ‘organised violence’
It was no coincidence that Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni spoke of ‘organised violence’ in the face of which ‘the State will not back down’ during yesterday’s site visit to Chiomonte with the Minister of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi, and the Chief of Police Vittorio Pisani. If endorsed by the entire Government, Fdi’s proposal could be incorporated as an amendment into an urgent decree or, in any case, into an existing piece of legislation.
The security campaign
Whatever the final outcome may be, the majority’s moves are further confirmation that the security dossier remains, and will continue to remain, at the top of the agenda. First, the support for pardon request for Mario Roggero and the debate on extending the scope of self-defence, followed by the draft bill on the criminal responsibility of minors aged between 14 and 18 passed last Thursday (again in the wake of recent events, in this case the rampages of the ‘maranza’ gangs terrorising the cities), and finally the debate on legislation against guerrilla warfare. No one in the coalition intends to leave their right flank exposed to General Vannacci’s attacks.
