In February 2024, the repression of student demonstrations in support of Palestine increased in Italy. Disturbing events occurred in Bologna, Naples and other cities in Italy, but the worst happened a few days ago in Pisa, where underage students demonstrating peacefully were beaten by the police.
The current right-wing government, led by Giorgia Meloni, was not able to strongly condemn these attitudes, but preferred to defend the forces of law and order, believing that the violent response was the result of physical provocations launched by protesters. Evidence of violence, however, there are none. Looking at the images and videos, however, you can understand perfectly the pacifist attitude of the protesters. The event, however, is useful to allow us to record some populist phrases:
- Being in the police, carabinieri or fire brigade, means doing a delicate job, in which everyone can make mistakes. What I did not accept as Minister of the Interior, I do not accept as Deputy Prime Minister, that is, that the Italian police are made to appear as a body of torturers (Matteo Salvini, Vice President of the Council);
- If my son went to the square to scream, he would see me. Who puts his hands on a policeman or a carabinieri is a criminal (Matteo Salvini, Vice President of the Council);
- The case of Pisa and the similar one in Florence are isolated and certainly not characteristic or recurrent (Matteo Piantedosi, Minister of the Interior).
They are generalist phrases and tend to extinguish an important problem in Italy: the affirmation of freedom of expression and peaceful demonstration. These facts show that populists, when in opposition, use democratic means to gain consensus. When they take the government, however, they struggle to preserve them.