Death of Moroccan man in Italian police custody sparks protests, violence

Italian authorities scrambled to respond to violent clashes in the northern city of Bologna following the death of a Moroccan-born man in police custody, an incident that drew widespread parallels to the death of George Floyd and emerged as a rallying cry for Italy’s far-left.

Bologna police on Tuesday said 64 officers were injured and six vehicles were damaged after two days of protests, with demonstrators also vandalizing shop windows and setting dumpsters on fire.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni pledged a full investigation into the death Sunday of Abderrahim Fakir, a 42-year-old immigrant business owner whose final moments, while he was pinned to the ground by police, sparked outrage as footage circulated on Italian social media.

“What happened in Bologna is unacceptable ... it is imperative that any potential responsibilities are thoroughly investigated with the utmost rigor,” she said in a post to X. “The truth must be pursued to the very end, without prejudice and without leniency for anyone.”

Meloni strongly condemned the violence in Bologna and insisted the entire police force should not be condemned.

“[N]othing can justify violence against Law Enforcement,” she said. “Those who chose to use this incident as a pretext to set the city ablaze, assault officers, and sow violence — also endangering the safety of innocent bystanders completely unrelated to the unrest — were not seeking the truth: they were seeking confrontation.”

The protests erupted after police said they responded to a call of a man in a “violent rage” in the Pilastro neighborhood of the city who was allegedly damaging a vehicle.

Footage shared by Italian media outlets shows two officers holding Fakir down as he screams for help in Italian, and while a third man holds his feet as Fakir is bound.

His screams end as he appears to fall into unconsciousness, and medical responders seem in no rush to aid him.

Bologna is a traditional stronghold of the Italian left. Following Fakir’s death, the city’s center-left mayor, Matteo Lepore, called for demonstrations in pursuit of “truth.” On Tuesday, he described two responses — saying there were thousands of people who turned out to peacefully demand justice, while a smaller breakaway group had sowed violence.

Lepore condemned the troublemakers in an open letter to the city, saying they had acted “outside the rule of law.”

Social media campaigns demanding justice for Fakir began online, as demonstrators in Bologna splashed the pavement with red paint and covered them with papers reading, “Don’t clean this blood, say his name,” a reference to slogans used by groups in the United States defending African Americans from police violence.

“No one helps him, no one unties him,” Fabio Anselmo, the Fakir family lawyer, told local journalists, according to Corriere della Sera. “Explain to me the reason why he was tied, hands and feet.”

Bologna prosecutors said they have opened an investigation into the actions of the police and first responders in the death of Fakir, who emigrated to Italy as a child and ran a cleaning service.

The incident comes several months after violent clashes between Italian police and far-left protesters in Turin resulted in 30 arrests and more than 100 injuries to police officers, including one officer pummeled with sticks and a hammer. That incident triggered Meloni’s government to force through a new security bill that granted authorities enhanced powers to detain suspected troublemakers ahead of street protests.

Fakir’s death, however, was at risk of triggering a new political crisis for Meloni.

Elly Schlein, head of the opposition Democratic Party, laid blame Tuesday on the Italian state, and called for justice to run its course.

“When a man dies during a detention operation, the state has failed and the state itself must shed light,” she told the Italian outlet La7. “Politics must not come with convictions or ex-officio acquittals. It will be the judiciary that will determine whether there will be responsibilities and of whom.”

Fakir’s family has called for justice but distanced themselves from the violence in Bologna.

“We dissociate ourselves from the clashes and riots that took place in the square in bologna,” Yossra Fakir, the distraught niece of Abderrahim Fakir, told reporters. “We absolutely disagree. Seeing the city center mistreated like this hurts us deeply and Bologna doesn’t deserve it.”