Is Italy on the verge of civil war? Is the country at risk of returning to the dark times of the 70s and 80s, when the left-wing terrorist Red Brigades murdered dozens of people? Italy’s right-wing government under the post-fascist Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is currently conjuring up these horror scenarios every day.
It was triggered by two demonstrations, to which the government immediately responded with a new “security decree” at the end of last week. On January 31st, more than 20,000 people took to the streets in Turin to protest against the recent evacuation of the Askatasuna Autonomous Center. The majority of the demonstrators marched through the city completely peacefully, but in the end around 1,000 members of the Black Bloc turned off the route and started a violent street battle with the police. An officer was surrounded by around ten demonstrators and punched and kicked, even after he had already fallen to the ground. The video snippet of this attack could be seen again and again in the following days.
Last Saturday in Milan around 10,000 people took to the streets, to protest against the just opened Winter Olympics: against the billions in costs, against the environmental damage. And again a small black block of just over 100 people came out to fight with the police. Since then, Italy’s right-wing government has invoked a democratic emergency. “Enemies of Italy and the Italians” are those who demonstrate against the Olympics, decreed Giorgia Meloni. Various colleagues from her cabinet are painting the “return of the Red Brigades” on the wall, and Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi stated in the daily newspaper on Monday Corriere della Sera“subversive forces” are at work that want to “overthrow democracy.”
Meloni rushed to the police officer’s bedside
Immediately after the incidents in Turin, Meloni himself rushed to the hospital to the bedside of the beaten police officer. She had done well to hurry with her visit: the officer, who had only sustained a few injuries, was released that same day.
Overall, the outcome of the two demonstrations is anything but serious: no one was seriously injured. But Italy’s right-wing government will not be deterred from presenting a new “security decree” within a few days. Its most important norm is the introduction of preventive security custody. Accordingly, the police can arrest protesters before a demonstration if they suspect that they pose a threat to security. There is no need for a judicial decision – the judiciary simply needs to be informed and can then subsequently order release.
Overall, the outcome of the two demonstrations is anything but serious: no one was seriously injured
But the Meloni right is not just concerned with further restrictions on the right to demonstrate. The attack on the judiciary is at least as important to her. Immediately after the incidents in Turin, Meloni himself judged that the attack on the police officer was “attempted murder”. In total, only three men were arrested at the demonstration; one of them was standing a few meters away during the attack on the police officer without actively intervening in the event. When the responsible examining judge did not want to impose any detention on any of the three, the right howled. Meloni said she was “indignant.”
Opposition worries about independent judiciary
The indignation has a good reason. On March 22nd and 23rd, Italians will vote in a constitutional referendum on the Judicial reform passed by the right which envisages separating the careers of judges and prosecutors – previously united under the umbrella of the “magistracy”. Allegedly, the reform is not intended to affect the independence of the judiciary, including that of the public prosecutor’s office, even if the opposition fears this. And the right is now providing her with material for this concern.
Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia party publishes various posts with pictures of the rioters in Turin and the sentence: “You vote ‘No’ in the referendum.” Various members of the cabinet, starting with the Minister of Justice, refer to judicial decisions such as the recent refusal of an arrest warrant in Turin and claim: The referendum is the opportunity to finally break “the supremacy of the judiciary”.
The shrill campaign is no coincidence. While it looked in December as if the referendum was a home game for the government with the proponents of justice reform having a clear lead, the picture is now different. In all surveys, the lead of those in favor of reform has narrowed, and in some surveys the two camps are now evenly matched. And Meloni knows only too well that a defeat in the referendum would be a major setback for the country’s rightward turn that she is pushing forward.