Red Cross volunteers shocked, distressed after Moroccan man's death - lawyer

(ANSA) - ROME, JUL 22 - The four Italy Red Cross volunteer paramedics who were present when Abderrahim Fakir, a 42-year-old Moroccan man, died while being restrained by police in Bologna on Sunday are devastated, the lawyer representing them said on Wednesday. "I cannot give any statements because investigations are ongoing and due to respect for the person who, unfortunately, has passed away," said the lawyer, Mario Simoni. "I can only say that they are understandably shocked, dismayed, and deeply distressed, both on a personal level and about the investigation". Prosecutors have opened a probe into involuntary homicide in relation to Fakir's death. The four, three men and a woman, have completed training courses to be ambulance paramedics, but they are not qualified doctors or nurses. In a video recorded by a local person, Fakir can be held shouting "help" and "enough" as he is placed face down while the police try to restrain him, before he passes out. The Italian Red Cross (CRI) has said its volunteers could not have intervened while the police were still trying to restrain Fakir. On Wednesday it released a statement stressing that the four did try to save him, performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation and using a defibrillator. Bologna police said 64 of its officers were injured when protesters rioted on Monday in the wake of Fakir's death. (ANSA).