(see related story on Meloni) Giuseppe Tiani, the secretary of police union Siap, said Wednesday that the conditions are not right for the introduction of codes with which individual policeofficers can be identified.
Controversy over the allegedly heavy-handed policing of a pro-Palestinian protest in Pisa last month has revived calls for officers to wear ID codes when they are managing such events.
Clashes between riot police and demonstrators during the protest, which had not been properly notified, left five people, including two minors, needing emergency medical treatment.
Images of some police in the Tuscan city repeatedly hitting students over the head shocked many Italians and elicited a rare rebuke from President Sergio Mattarella, who said "truncheonsfail young people".
Tiani said that question of ID codes had not been raised during a meeting with the government on Wednesday.
"We are willing to talk about it," Tiani said after the meeting.
"But there cannot be an equal relationship between those who protect all the citizens and those who demonstrate violently.
"We are willing to discuss it, but, at the moment, the necessary social and political conditions to start a discussion on identification codes for the police and the Carabinieri do notexist.
"The Finance department already have them, and their service orders are clear".
Prosecutors have opened a probe into the Pisa clashes and the police officers involved have come forward and identified themselves.
During Wednesday's meeting the police unions proposed applying restriction orders on people who commit acts of violence during marches like the 'DASPO' stadium bans that soccer hooligans get.
Union representatives said the government said it would consider this.
Bianca Chiesa, the national coordinator of the Union of Students, said the proposal was "shameful".
"The proposal follows a series of incidents which demonstrate that it is not the students who are violent, but the police," Chiesa told ANSA.
"We have been denouncing for years the disproportionate, excessive violence of the police against peaceful demonstrators who take to the streets to exercise their rights.
"Identification codes are needed on the uniforms and helmets of the police but instead the government is increasing repressive measures.
"We think we need in the opposite direction, ensuring that the country is a training ground for democracy in which people can demonstrate freely".
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