Guerrilla warfare in the Susa Valley, where High-Speed Rail construction sites were stormed by hundreds of hooded extremists who also used Molotov cocktails in their attacks. Around fifty law enforcement officers were injured and police vans set on fire: this is the initial toll of what amounted to a full-scale battle. "Those who throw firecrackers, set fire to state vehicles and attack the security forces are not defending an idea — they are attacking the state," Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni wrote on social media, adding that "violence will not bring the state to its knees: those who serve Italy will never be left alone." The construction sites at San Didero, and above all at Chiomonte, were stormed by hundreds of extremists belonging to the so-called Black Bloc, heirs of the Black Bloc movement that a decade ago was behind urban guerrilla warfare in several cities, including Genoa during the G8 summit in 2001.
Italians and foreigners — many of them French, but also Spanish and German — took advantage of the No-TAV demonstration, rebranded by its organisers as a "march towards the sites of devastation," which set off from Venaus and which, according to the movement, drew twenty thousand participants.
Among these were members of the most hardline faction, who hurled firecrackers, rockets, stones and — as had not happened for some time — numerous incendiary bottles at law enforcement officers deployed to protect the construction sites. The most intense clashes were recorded at Chiomonte, where the masked individuals managed to breach the construction site perimeter and set fire to at least two Carabinieri vans. After the No-TAV procession departed — organised on the sidelines of the tenth edition of the Alta Felicità Festival — the activists split into different groups. The first tensions, which lasted around twenty minutes, were seen at San Didero, where security forces responded to the throwing of firecrackers and stones with tear gas, dispersing the protesters. Meanwhile, a larger group reached the Chiomonte construction site by making its way along footpaths through the hills. The Black Bloc then attacked on multiple fronts, apparently following a coordinated strategy and a pre-established plan.
With their faces concealed behind gas masks and goggles to protect themselves from tear gas, and armed with shields, helmets and any object that could be hurled at the police, Carabinieri and Guardia di Finanza, the extremists managed to penetrate what they had dubbed "the fortress." The guerrilla fighting lasted over an hour, until security forces managed to repel them, forcing them to retreat through the same woods from which they had emerged. During the retreat, the extremists stripped off their black clothing. Earlier, during the assault, some of them had opened umbrellas they were carrying to avoid being filmed and identified by law enforcement drones. During the clashes, the Turin–Bardonecchia motorway was closed between the Susa and Oulx Ovest junctions in both directions. Several rail services between Bardonecchia and Salbertrand were also suspended due to a group of protesters on the tracks at Bruzolo, near the San Didero construction site. Before the demonstration, law enforcement had seized slingshots, rockets, ball bearings, firecrackers and fireworks at Bardonecchia station.
On the eve of the No Tav march, Turin prefect Donato Cafagna had imposed restrictions and bans for reasons of security and public order, while police chief Massimo Gambino had issued fourteen measures including urban Daspo orders and expulsion notices from Venaus.
Piantedosi: 'There are those who want an escalation'
"Today we witnessed yet more scenes of violence against law enforcement, following those recorded in recent days. This confirms the willingness, on the part of some, to bring about an escalation that requires the utmost attention." So declared Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi. According to the minister, "a unified, clear and unambiguous stance is needed from all political forces and institutions. Isolating those who fuel violence must be a shared duty, beyond any political affiliation," he said. "Otherwise, these criminals will become convinced that they can count on the complicity and endorsement of their subversive violence."
"To the police officers, carabinieri and finance police officers who stood against the violence of these thugs, especially those injured in Val di Susa, I extend my full solidarity and gratitude for the service they perform every day in defence of security and legality," the Interior Minister stressed. "If anyone had underestimated it, what happened provides further proof that there are those who consider violence a legitimate tool of political opposition and who identify law enforcement as the preferred target to strike," he added. "Probably also because they have understood that we will not back down in defending democracy."
Reproduction reserved © Copyright ANSA
