Shortly after midnight there were still around a hundred protesters facing the police. Hours of urban guerrilla warfare in the heart of Bologna, during which all manner of objects were thrown: chairs from the outdoor seating areas in via Ugo Bassi, road signs and construction barriers ripped out of the ground. A municipal service vehicle parked near Palazzo d'Accursio was also set on fire.
The initial toll, in addition to the damage and the arrests, stands at 11 people who required treatment from emergency services. On site, medical personnel treated four protesters and five police officers. Another police officer was taken to the Maggiore hospital and one protester to Sant'Orsola, both with minor injuries.
The clashes broke out following a vigil in Piazza del Nettuno organised by Mayor Matteo Lepore, attended only by the family of Abderrahim Fakir, who died during a police intervention on Sunday in the Pilastro neighbourhood. Thousands of people gathered in the square, then a significant portion moved in a march to Piazza Roosevelt, where clashes erupted in front of the prefecture to the chants of "assassins" and "tout le monde déteste la police."
Insults flew, and kicks were aimed at the shields of the officers deployed, though there were also attempts by some — the Moroccan community had called for a peaceful demonstration — to restrain the more belligerent participants. In an escalating sequence, protesters began hurling objects and firecrackers, met with baton charges in response.
The situation then deteriorated, with repeated attempts to push back and disperse the crowd using tear gas and water cannons. This continued for hours, while just a few hundred metres away in Piazza Maggiore, Bologna residents were gathered before the open-air cinema's large screen — the screening of Pirates of the Caribbean had been cancelled.
Nearby, activists — at least a hundred of them — continued to wreak havoc in the city centre. The disturbances, punctuated by multiple police charges, lasted for hours. Officers deployed water cannons and tear gas. On the other side, dozens of Mobike bicycles were thrown and used to build barricades.
The anger over the death of Abderrahim Fakir spilled into the streets, first between Piazza Roosevelt, via della Zecca and via Ugo Bassi, then in via Rizzoli, where a hail of stones was hurled at police using materials torn from a construction site. Protesters used the barriers as a battering ram against officers, who were forced to fall back and take up positions in via IV Novembre and via Venezian to defend the police headquarters and the prefecture.
Several hundred young people — antagonists, social centre activists, some carrying Palestinian flags, students, young Italians and people of foreign origin — overturned bins and barriers, and threw stones and bottles.
During the charges, L'Espresso reports, a journalist who was filming the clashes was also struck with a baton. His shouts to identify himself — "I'm a journalist" — went unheeded; he was knocked to the ground and struck repeatedly until he managed to flee and receive treatment at the emergency room.
During the protests, firefighters were called to intervene in via Monte Grappa, where a flare had ignited in an interior courtyard.
Fakir's family distanced themselves from the violence. "Those who are behaving criminally in Bologna are friends of those attempting to deny truth and justice for Fakir," said their lawyer Fabio Anselmo.
