The death of a man during a police restraint generates a wave of protests in Italy

RomeThe death of a man of Moroccan origin while handcuffed during a police detention has opened a political battle in Italy. The events took place this past weekend in a neighborhood on the outskirts of Bologna, where police officers were dispatched after being alerted by residents. Upon arrival, Abderrahim Fakir, 42 years old and visibly nervous, was handcuffed and immobilized by two officers on the same street, with his head on the asphalt, until he stopped breathing.

In a video released by local media, the man can be heard asking for help after the arrest. Very close by were several paramedics from emergency services, who did not intervene to save the victim.

The Bologna Prosecutor's Office has opened an investigation for negligent homicide against the two police officers and four healthcare workers and has assured that it will take into account all images from the body cameras of the agents involved. However, the recent security law approved by Giorgia Meloni's ultra-conservative government introduces for the first time the so-called "criminal shield" for members of the State security forces. For this reason, the officers will not be formally investigated immediately, but will be registered in a specific registry until their responsibility is clarified.

The magistrates will now have to determine if the conduct of the agents and healthcare operators involved could be justified by self-defense, by the fulfillment of a duty, or by a state of necessity.

In a statement, the police assured that the deployed officers "immediately requested the assistance of emergency medical services" and confirmed the "presence" of healthcare workers during "the containment operations," after which "the individual died."

In front of healthcare personnel

The alleged passivity with which the four health operators witnessed the man's death has also been criticized, and the magistrates in charge of the investigation will now have to assess their responsibility. The Red Cross defended that "it is unthinkable that they could intervene when there was a person who at that moment was in the hands of the security forces". "We intervened when they allowed us to," the organization added in a statement.

For the victim's family, however, it was a cold-blooded homicide. "We just want justice. They killed my brother without mercy," denounced the deceased's sister, Katia Fakir, during a demonstration through the streets of Bologna this Monday. Hundreds of citizens participated to demand that the causes of the man's death be clarified.

The protests led to violence when a group separated from the main demonstration and caused damage in the city. At least 64 police officers were injured. The mayor of Bologna, Matteo Lepore, of the Democratic Party and promoter of the demonstration, defended "peaceful and spontaneous protests" and asked citizens to "remain human".

"I believe it is up to the institutions to support the victims. The competent authorities will clarify what happened on Sunday and determine those responsible, but now the Fakir family is represented, and there is a democratic Bologna that is not willing to give way to violence or instrumentalization," the mayor wrote in a letter addressed to the citizens after the previous night's events.

"I am always on the side of the police," defended, on the contrary, the leader of the far-right League and deputy prime minister, Matteo Salvini, adding more fuel to the fire. In the last few hours, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has also supported the officers: she has asked for the causes of the Moroccan man's death to be clarified and, at the same time, has denounced the violence recorded the previous night in Bologna. "Attacks against the police are unacceptable," she concluded.