Italy’s new preventative detention powers used for the first time as police detain 91 anarchists in Rome.
Italian police deployed newly enacted preventative detention powers for the first time on Sunday, detaining 91 individuals linked to the anarchist movement in Rome.
Background
The detentions occurred in connection with a commemoration of Sara Ardizzone and Alessandro Mercogliano, two anarchist militants killed on 19 March while assembling an improvised explosive device at an abandoned property in Rome’s Parco degli Acquedotti.
The planned gathering had been prohibited by Rome police, yet groups of anarchists – some travelling from other parts of Italy – assembled at the park from early morning.
The operation
A substantial deployment of police, including mounted officers, monitored the situation. Within a short period, groups of anarchists were intercepted at several entrances to the Parco degli Acquedotti, near the site of the explosion.
For 91 individuals deemed dangerous and suspicious – with the concurrence of the duty public prosecutor – the new preventative detention measure was activated.
The measure, introduced last month, permits police officers during specific public order operations to bring suspects to their offices and hold them for up to 12 hours.
Those detained were taken to police headquarters for photographic identification and the possible issuance of travel restriction notices.
Some demonstrators attempted to evade the cordons, displaying a banner reading “Sara e Sandro caduti per la libertà, vivi nella lotta” (“Sara and Sandro fallen for freedom, alive in the struggle”) and setting off black smoke flares.
Others were intercepted while attempting to blend in with worshippers attending a Palm Sunday mass at a nearby church.
Meloni’s response
In a post on social media, Meloni declared that the preventative detention of 91 individuals from the anarchist sphere, deemed dangerous and gathered in Rome for an unauthorised commemoration, confirmed the necessity of the new legislation.
Addressing critics on the left who had argued that the measure curtailed the right to protest, Meloni insisted that it served instead to guarantee that demonstrations took place peacefully and without violence, as the Italian Constitution requires, and to protect those wishing to exercise that right in a lawful and orderly manner.
She added that the government would continue to press ahead: more tools to guarantee security for all, and stronger protections for those wishing to demonstrate peacefully.
Political reactions and criticism
The operation and the government’s response exposed deep political divisions. Opposition parties had already raised alarm following reports that the European Parliament member Ilaria Salis had been subjected to checks before a separate No Kings protest in Rome on 26 March.
The right-wing Lega party sought to capitalise on the moment, with its spokesperson Eugenio Zoffili announcing plans for a new “Anti-Antifa” law that would formally designate anarchist associations and militant antagonist groups as terrorist organisations, promising zero tolerance.
Critics and civil liberties observers have raised concern that too broad an application of the new preventative detention powers risks placing undue restrictions on the constitutional right of assembly.
