Physical contact between police and protesters aged under 18 during demonstrations is always adefeat said Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi on Thursday during a briefing to parliament on the violence used by police against young pro-Palestine demonstrators in Pisa and Florence last Friday.
"I was also disturbed by the images of the clashes in Pisa that circulated in the media," Piantedosi told lawmakers in the Lower House.
"We are open to full analysis and self-criticism when even one demonstration, or a single moment of one demonstration, among the thousands held every year, requires more in-depth examination," he added.
"We all hope that public demonstrations take place peacefully and without incidents, and when physical contact is made with minors it is in any case a defeat and it is even more necessary to carry out all checks in a timely, objective and transparent fashion," said Piantedosi.
In Pisa five young protesters were hospitalized with injuries sustained during clashes with police in an episode that sparked a public outcry in Italy and elicited a reprimand from President Sergio Mattarella.
However, Piantedosi also reiterated the right of members of the police force "not to be subjected to summary trials".
"They are workers who deserve the utmost respect!," he insisted.
"The management of public order is a daily commitment, delicate and not without risk, carried out with the utmost dedication by the women and men in uniform," he continued, "firmly" rejecting" any attempt to involve the work of the police force in political polemics ".
Piantedosi also said the police headquarters in Pisa had not been formally notified of the demonstration, "in total violation of the law".
"Having learned about the event, they tried several times without success to contact the organizers to obtain information on the kind of initiative that would be held and its route, in order to provide suitable public order services," he added.
The police baton-charged the protesters "to ensure their own safety", continued Piantedosi, explaining that they had found themselves "pressed up against a vehicle behind them" and needed to "advance a few meters and thus ease the pressure from the demonstrators".
Previously, he said the officers had held the position "usingonly their riot shields, despite the fact that the protesterscontinued to put pressure on them with thrusts, kicks, insults, spitting and attempts to grab their shields".
Piantedosi told parliament that since the October 7 attacks by Hamas against Israel that sparked the Gaza war, "a broad and varied pro-Palestinian mobilization has developed throughout Italy, in many cases promoted by associations that can be traced to the antagonist area or in which a significant participation by activists from this area has been noted".
He also pointed up a "climate of growing aggressiveness towardsthe forces of law and order ... in order to increase the level of opposition between the 'public square' and the 'Institutions'".
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