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Planned anarchist protest puts police on alert in Venice

An unauthorised anarchist demonstration planned in Venice has led to the deployment of 700 police officers and local businesses closing early.

Published: 25 March 2023 14:49 CET
Planned anarchist protest puts police on alert in Venice
Photo: Pixabay.

As many as 700 police officers have been on patrol in Venice since the early hours of Saturday morning in anticipation of an unauthorised demonstration by anarchists scheduled for 3pm in the Campo Santa Margherita.

With tensions high in the city, many local businesses in the area have boarded up their shopfronts and closed for the day. Tourists in the area are being moved on by police.

Police have also been carrying out checks on new arrivals in the city at the Ponte della Liberta, according to La Nuova di Venezia e Mestre. The extra security has caused long queues and traffic on the bridges that connect the historic city with the mainland. 

Around 200 anarchists are expected in the city, with some even travelling from outside Italy. 

The demonstration has been organised in support of Juan Antonio Sorreche Fernandez, a Spanish citizen sentenced to 28 years in prison by a Treviso court for planting a bomb at the headquarters of Lega di Villorba in 2018.

As of 2pm, La Nuova reports that the Campo Santa Margherita is calm but that demonstrators had started to arrive in the city.

Business and tourist activity continues as normal in the rest of the city. 

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POLITICS

Italian PM Meloni’s ally gets EU Commission vice president job

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday named Raffaele Fitto, a member of PM Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy party, executive vice president in the next European Commission, sparking concern among centre-left lawmakers.

Published: 17 September 2024 11:34 CEST
Italian PM Meloni's ally gets EU Commission vice president job

Fitto, 55, will be in charge of “cohesion and reforms” and become one of von der Leyen’s key lieutenants in the European Union’s executive body, despite concerns from EU lawmakers on the left and in the centre.

“He will be responsible for the portfolio dealing with cohesion policy, regional development and cities,” von der Leyen told a press conference.

Writing on X, Meloni called the choice of Fitto, a member of her Brothers of Italy party, “an important recognition that confirms the newfound central role of our nation in the EU”.

“Italy is finally back as a protagonist in Europe,” she added.

Currently Italy’s European affairs minister, Fitto knows Brussels well and is widely regarded as one of the more moderate faces of Meloni’s government.

But as a member of her party, which once called for Rome to leave the eurozone, his potential appointment to such a powerful post had sparked alarm ahead of von der Leyen’s official announcement.

Centrist French MEP Valerie Hayer described it as “untenable” and Fitto is likely to face a stormy confirmation hearing before the European Parliament.

“Italy is a very important country and one of our founding members, and this has to reflect in the choice,” von der Leyen said of his nomination.

READ ALSO: EU chief to hand economy vice-president job to Italian PM Meloni’s party

Fitto was elected three times to the European Parliament before joining Meloni’s administration in 2022, when was charged with managing Italy’s share of the EU’s vast post-Covid recovery plan.

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