Moments of high tension this evening – July 20 – in the center of Bologna during the demonstration organized to demand truth and justice about the death of Abderrahim Fakir, the 42-year-old who died on Sunday, July 19 during a police intervention in the Pilastro district.
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The mobilization began at 7 pm in Piazza Nettuno with a rally promoted by Mayor Matteo Lepore and conceived by the Municipality as a moment of gathering and participation, without a stage and without political speeches. At the end of the event, part of those present, including representatives of the collectives and citizens of the Moroccan community, moved in a procession towards Piazza Roosevelt, where the Prefecture and the Police Headquarters are located.
In front of the institutional buildings, the demonstrators faced a cordon of riot police. Chants against the police forces and against the new mechanism of the so-called “penal shield” were shouted from the square. The front rows advanced towards the police line and there were contacts and containment charges.
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According to Ansa, a firecracker was thrown from the area occupied by the demonstrators. Some participants also removed the protections placed on the windows of armored vehicles and threw them against the police vehicles. Bottle throwing and kicking against the officers were also reported. The police responded with batons, water cannons, and tear gas to disperse the part of the procession involved in the clashes. Subsequently, some demonstrators gathered near the walls of the Municipality, crouching with a photograph of Fakir in a gesture of non-violent protest.
The demonstration was called after the death of Fakir, which occurred while the man was immobilized on the ground and handcuffed by two officers intervening on Via Svevo. In the videos acquired by investigators, the 42-year-old appears blocked in a prone position while asking for help, before stopping moving. The causes of death have not yet been determined and will have to be clarified by medico-legal investigations. The Prosecutor’s Office has acquired both the video shot by a resident and the images recorded by the officers’ bodycams.
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