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PROTESTS

Planned anarchist protest puts police on alert in Venice

An unauthorised anarchist demonstration planned in Venice has led to the deployment of 700 police officers and local businesses closing early.

Planned anarchist protest puts police on alert in Venice
Photo: Pixabay.

As many as 700 police officers have been on patrol in Venice since the early hours of Saturday morning in anticipation of an unauthorised demonstration by anarchists scheduled for 3pm in the Campo Santa Margherita.

With tensions high in the city, many local businesses in the area have boarded up their shopfronts and closed for the day. Tourists in the area are being moved on by police.

Police have also been carrying out checks on new arrivals in the city at the Ponte della Liberta, according to La Nuova di Venezia e Mestre. The extra security has caused long queues and traffic on the bridges that connect the historic city with the mainland. 

Around 200 anarchists are expected in the city, with some even travelling from outside Italy. 

The demonstration has been organised in support of Juan Antonio Sorreche Fernandez, a Spanish citizen sentenced to 28 years in prison by a Treviso court for planting a bomb at the headquarters of Lega di Villorba in 2018.

As of 2pm, La Nuova reports that the Campo Santa Margherita is calm but that demonstrators had started to arrive in the city.

Business and tourist activity continues as normal in the rest of the city. 

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TERRORISM

Italy on maximum terror alert over Easter after Moscow attack

Italy was to increase surveillance in busy areas ahead of the Easter holidays and following the bombing of a Moscow concert hall, ministers agreed on Monday.

Italy on maximum terror alert over Easter after Moscow attack

Italy’s national committee for public security, chaired by Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, on Monday said anti-terrorism monitoring in Italy must be strengthened ahead of the Easter holidays, with more surveillance to be carried out at popular tourist spots and at “sensitive sites”.

The committee agreed on “the importance of continuing monitoring activity, including online, by police and intelligence forces for the identification of possible risk situations” in Italy, reported news agency Ansa.

The security meeting was convened following the terrorist attack in Moscow on Friday where armed men opened fire and set the building ablaze, killing at least 133 people.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani had stressed to the public on Sunday that Italy faced “no concrete risk” and said the country’s security and law enforcement services were “always on the alert to prevent any attack.”

“During the Easter holidays you will need to be very careful. We will always do the utmost to ensure the safety of citizens and tourists,” Tajani said, speaking on national broadcaster Rai’s current affairs show Restart.

READ ALSO: Terror alerts: Should I be worried about travelling to Italy?

The fight against terrorism “has nothing to do with the war in Ukraine,” the minister continued.

“We support Ukraine” as an invaded country in which international law has been violated, he said, “but as the Italian government we have expressed our condemnation of the attack [in Moscow] and closeness to the families of the victims and the survivors”.

Cabinet Secretary Alfredo Mantovano said on the same programme that the main terrorist threat Italy faced at the moment was mainly from “lone wolves” and “not so much from organised groups.”

“I believe that a group like the one that acted in the Moscow attack, which must have been trained and had logistical support, would be intercepted sooner in Italy,” he said.

“The most worrying threat” in Italy was online recruitment, he said, noting that propaganda was closely monitored.

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