More coverage and footage in the Italian section and on the Word Riots 24/h facebook page (thanks for the pic, guys!;)

Yesterday in Bologna an open public assembly was called up by the Autonomous University Collective (CUA) in the bustling heart of the university area – the central Piazza Verdi. Its aim was to publicly debate and raise awareness about the odious police provocation of the previous thursday, when anti-riot police corps tried to prevent a solidarity initiative with the Sodexo precarious workers, held by the collective.

On that day, the students, the workers and the citizens of Bologna resisted the police charges head-on and raised barricades in the Via Zamboni university street, ultimately managing to lead the debate to a safe conclusion.

Many solidarity statements from all over Italy came, and a press conference was called up in the weekend to denounce the police conduct and promote yet another day of mobilization.     

Yesterday evening at around 6 pm the university students found the entrance of Piazza Verdi blocked by a barrage of celere (police anti-riot corps), carabinieri (paramilitary police) and municipal police. Outrageous proposals by the police of “escorting” the demonstrators into the square were rejected as people chanted: “Shame on you!”, “Police out from Piazza Verdi!”, and “Assembly, Assembly, Assembly!” and locking their arms in cordons to stand in front of the police lines. The face-off went on for about an hour, while other students and symphatetic citizens ran to the square after reading about the events on Facebook, Twitter and antagonist news agencies – while the guards’ platoon was being beefed up by more reinforcements from the police headquarters.

As the demonstrators’ patience was over, the two lines clashed, with the police ready to resort to truncheons, razor-edge shields and tonfas against the rage of the students. In spite of the hard blows dealt by the police weapons to the students’ bodies, the cordons pressed more and more against police lines, as the bystanders gradually started to join the fray. The police unleashed two, three, four charges, yet it was unable to hold the students’ bloc back, and started to retreat. After a fifth charge, the demonstrators began to spill into the square and the police barrage was first shattered, then routed among a jubilant uproar by the crowd: “We won, we really won!”

As the various police forces were pushed out from Piazza Verdi, ending up hiding themselves into their pickups, a mini-march through the nearby blocks to publicize the events ensued; then the hard-won assembly started, coming up with various proposals about blocking the University Council today (as the dean stood silent in front of the many police abuses of the previous weeks and endorsed neoliberal austerity policies) and satisfying the need for a cheaper university cafeteria, either through a people’s luncheon and by challenging the management of the university food services. More in general, the day marked an utter defeat for the city’s governance and the right-wing “anti-urban blight” committees, that tried until now to militarize public spaces in Bologna with such petty excuses as urban decorum issues.  

Therefore, from now on, a new possibility for organization of social antagonism and political opposition against the crisis stands out in downtown Bologna, supported by the joyous relentlessness of the students and the comrades.