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Italian police raid Covid health pass protesters ‘planning violence’

Italian police raided the homes and searched the computers on Thursday of eight people suspected of planning violence during protests against the country's coronavirus passport.

Published: 9 September 2021 12:01 CEST
Italian police raid Covid health pass protesters 'planning violence'
Photo by Filippo MONTEFORTE / AFP

The suspects are members of a group on messaging app Telegram called “The Warriors”, where the use of weapons and DIY explosives at “No Green Pass” demonstrations have been discussed, according to a police statement.

They were said to be planning to attend a protest this weekend in Rome but are also accused of “inciting the other members of the group to carry out violent actions” in their home regions against unspecified “institutional targets” or during visits by government ministers.

Some members of the group also planned a meeting where they intended to procure “white weapons” (non-firearms) for use at the Rome protest, the statement said.

The searches were carried out in Milan, Rome, Venice, Padua, Bergamo and Reggio Emilia.

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Protests have been taking place across Italy since the ‘green pass’ was introduced on August 6th.

The health certificate shows if someone is vaccinated against Covid-19, has tested negative or recently recovered from the virus, and is required by everyone in Italy who wants to eat inside restaurants, take intercity trains and buses, and for teachers.

Italian authorities are now preparing to expand the scheme to workplaces, with plans to roll it out to employees across public and private sectors in stages.

It is the latest effort to try to control a pandemic that has claimed almost 130,00 lives since sweeping across Italy in February 2020, but has sparked small and occasionally violent protests.

The government is also considering making Covid vaccinations obligatory for the entire population in a bid to help Italy reach the target of vaccinating 80 percent of the population over the age of 12 by the end of September.

More than 39 million people in Italy – almost 73 percent of the population over the age of 12 – have now been fully vaccinated, according to the latest government data.

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PROTESTS

Calls for special police tactics to be available across Sweden

The chairwoman of the Police Association West Region has said that police special tactics, known as Särskild polistaktik or SPT, should be available across Sweden, to use in demonstrations similar to those during the Easter weekend.

Published: 24 April 2022 15:56 CEST
Calls for special police tactics to be available across Sweden

SPT, (Särskild polistaktik), is a tactic where the police work with communication rather than physical measures to reduce the risk of conflicts during events like demonstrations.

Tactics include knowledge about how social movements function and how crowds act, as well as understanding how individuals and groups act in a given situation. Police may attempt to engage in collaboration and trust building, which they are specially trained to do.

Katharina von Sydow, chairwoman of the Police Association West Region, told Swedish Radio P4 West that the concept should exist throughout the country.

“We have nothing to defend ourselves within 10 to 15 metres. We need tools to stop this type of violent riot without doing too much damage,” she said.

SPT is used in the West region, the South region and in Stockholm, which doesn’t cover all the places where the Easter weekend riots took place.

In the wake of the riots, police unions and the police’s chief safety representative had a meeting with the National Police Chief, Anders Tornberg, and demanded an evaluation of the police’s work. Katharina von Sydow now hopes that the tactics will be introduced everywhere.

“This concept must exist throughout the country”, she said.

During the Easter weekend around 200 people were involved in riots after a planned demonstration by anti-Muslim Danish politician Rasmus Paludan and his party Stram Kurs (Hard Line), that included the burning of the Muslim holy book, the Koran.

Police revealed on Friday that at least 104 officers were injured in counter-demonstrations that they say were hijacked by criminal gangs intent on targeting the police. 

Forty people were arrested and police are continuing to investigate the violent riots for which they admitted they were unprepared. 

Paludan’s application for another demonstration this weekend was rejected by police.

In Norway on Saturday, police used tear gas against several people during a Koran-burning demonstration after hundreds of counter-demonstrators clashed with police in the town of Sandefjord.

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