ROME, July 20 (Reuters) – Italian police clashed with demonstrators in the northern city of Bologna on Monday, ANSA news agency reported, during a protest over a man’s death after officers tried to arrest him.
Abderrahim Fakir, a Moroccan-born entrepreneur who ran a small removals and cleaning business, died on Sunday after police were called to deal with a man behaving aggressively and damaging a vehicle, Italian media said.
Footage of the incident filmed by a resident and widely shared online prompted hundreds of people to protest. According to ANSA, some threw a firecracker near police buildings in the city and police reacted using tear gas and water cannons.
“The chants of ‘police murderers’ and ‘the whole world hates you,’ shouted during a demonstration in Bologna … are disgraceful,” said Tommaso Foti, the European affairs minister in the government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
The video showed Fakir lying face down on the ground while two officers restrained him. He could be heard repeatedly calling for help and struggling for breath before his movements gradually stopped.
ANSA also reported that a group of demonstrators sat down in a square holding a photograph of Fakir, describing the action as a gesture of nonviolent protest.
‘KILLED IN COLD BLOOD’
The incident drew responses from across the political spectrum, with opposition politicians demanding accountability and the governing coalition defending the officers involved.
Prosecutors have opened an investigation into the incident. Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said he had “full confidence” the inquiry would establish the facts and clarify what happened.
Bologna police said they would give bodycam footage from the officers who intervened to the investigators.
According to media reports, officers called emergency services after arriving in the northeastern neighbourhood of Pilastro shortly after noon, when temperatures exceeded 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit).
Police tried to calm Fakir before using pepper spray and holding him down while trying to handcuff him after he reacted aggressively, according to media reports.
“They killed my brother in cold blood, I want justice,” Fakir’s sister, Khadija, told reporters as hundreds of people in Pilastro took to the streets on Sunday, with some demonstrators chanting slogans against the police.
(Reporting by Giselda Vagnoni and Angelo Amante in Rome; Editing by Alvise Armellini, Hugh Lawson and Matthew Lewis)
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