During a school-sanctioned assembly to discuss cannabis legalization, police entered the courtroom and identified school representatives.
It happened in the Majorana-Cascino school in Piazza Armerina, in the Ennese area, the city that hosts the Villa Romana del Casale.
Repubblica-Palermo writes it.
The students' initiative was part of the campaign conducted in Italy by the "Meglio Legal" association for the legalization of cannabis and a speaker at the meeting, Pierluigi Gagliardi, says that "while we were discussing remotely with the students with the help of some slides, the police intervened. We find it to be a very serious and unacceptable fact, which has never happened before in other schools".
The head teacher Lidia Di Gangi, who was not at the institute during the meeting, explains that she has yet to talk to the boys and that "in any case the assembly has been completed".
That it was an authorized assembly is confirmed by the school director of Majorana-Cascino, Lidia Gangi.
The principal of the Majorana-Cascino school in Piazza Armerina, where the police identified some students yesterday, explains that around 9.40 the police entered the school premises asking for the principal.
"Not being on site, one of the teachers, who has the role of digital animator and, therefore, was following the video links, contacted me and put the inspector on the phone, who asked me if the assembly was authorized because they had received a report from Enna".
The principal reassured the policeman, but after the phone call the boys who were among the organizers were identified.
"The joint assembly - continues the principal - was requested by the class representatives on the basis of planning with the provincial council and saw the participation, through meet platforms, of the students connected by the individual classes and the representative of the 'Meglio Legale' association ', Pierluigi Gagliardi, who presented the students with a regulatory framework, immediately clarifying that the objective of the association is to argue theses about the desired legal use of cannabis to counter the criminal phenomena associated with clandestine drug dealing".
"The theme of the legalization of cannabis is on the agenda in public and institutional debate, it has also been discussed in parliamentary halls. School assemblies are a guaranteed right of students, they offer the opportunity to explore topics of general interest : the raid takes the form of a dangerous act of intimidation against young people - many of whom are minors - who have seen the police officers arrive in the serenity of the classrooms. It is not clear what the charge that prompted the police of Enna to send the check. We will go to the end to understand what happened".
This was stated by Antonella Soldo, coordinator of "Meglio Legale", which organizes information meetings and debates in high schools and universities:
"The events that took place yesterday in Piazza Armerina, during a meeting of students from the Majorana-Cascino school, worry us greatly".
This was stated by Marco Greco, national coordinator of the Federation of students who, in a well-known label as "politically unacceptable in a free democracy" the fact that members of the police forces interrupted a duly authorized assembly of the institute, with the theme the legalization of cannabis.
"It is an act - he adds - which in the absence of a different motivation risks being politically unacceptable. The agents, in fact, for reasons unknown to us, proceeded to identify some boys who, although barely of age, hold an elective public office in the 'self-government of'
educational institution and who were exercising their function in the ways and within the terms established by law, moreover by breaking into a school, in the presence of dozens of students.
An intervention of this kind, regardless of the topic discussed, is, in my opinion, in strong contrast with the right of assembly and with the right to free expression of thought enshrined in our Constitution". Greco hopes that the leaders of the State Police will be able to clarity on what happened, while announcing that he will send a request for an extraordinary and urgent hearing to Minister Valditara on the case.