Police abuses and prosecutors’ blackmail do not stop the No Tav movement!
The movement in the Valley has been successfully opposing the project for twenty years, but the Italian state – in spite of the last pessimistic opinions by French analysts – still continues to defend its own corrupt business with the cooperatives* system on one side and siphoning off public money to create surplus value for private organisations (supported by the main Italian political parties) on the other. After cops had unlawfully occupied the zone by force of arms, corrupt enterprise companies tried to start their project of a geognostic tunnel through the mountains.
The departure of the No Tav for night walk around the construction yard was at 9 pm. After a 30-minutes stroll, the riot police came out of the high fences to arrest the demonstrators near an old stone bridge. As the two lines drew near, being some thirty metres distant from each other, riot police – as usual – unleashed CS tear gas against the protesters. Several dozens old-aged people were obligated to fall back on the paths, while the youngest part of the movement hindered the riot cops assault. Confrontations between police and protesters lasted for some two hours, with 9 persons detained; an underage, seventeen year old among them was brutally beated in the face: he was released some hours later. Most No Tav demonstrators came back to Giaglione, the initial meeting point, even three or four hours after the assault.
The day after the movement denounced that 63 demostrators had been seriously injured, in addition to the predetermined presence of two Public Prosecutors against No Tav movement in the construction yard; in order to turn a popular struggle into a matter of mere public order, alienating the reasons of the movement from general public opinion. A public assembly and a press conference on Saturday evening clarified the events, calling again for further days of struggles, without fear of repression nor paranoic deviances; as usual in Susa Valley, the most important Italian example of collective self-determination. “We have to understand better how police could act next time”, an old woman said. Marta, a 33 year old activist from Pisa, recounts her experience of being arrested and the abuses of the Italian police after her detention.
Mainstream media wrote about the violence of No Tav protesters, but their falsifications do not trouble the movement, strenghtened by its long-standing experience. The Italian pro-Tav institutions clearly started a new strategy to delegitimize the movement, creating tensions and misunderstanting, but No Tav protesters are able to choose in autonomy what they do want, and when and how to move against an across-the-board enemy. In many cities, such as Rome and Milan, there were mass demonstrations for the freedom of the detained.
On Tuesday 23, the No-Tav detained after the night charges were condemned to house arrest, except one who was bounded by a mandatory residence. There was no actual evidence for any detention, only an absurd persecution aim carried out through personal restrictions. Afterwards, some hundreds people met on the 27th of July in front of the Court in Turin, as Marta was being questioned there about police abuses. Cops and Finance police forces armed with helmets, shields and batons stood between the No Tav and the courthouse. When a group of women went to hang a banner on the gates of the Court, the riot cops quickly lost their temper; ending up beating most of the protesters, which in turn resisted the charges. Once again, the Italian police showed its fierce hatred against any No Tav action; public opinion could realize how coward the institutions can be in order to defend their own businesses.
On Saturday 28 a huge demostration in the Susa Valley took place. More than three thousand people moved from Giaglione and marched together around the high fences of the TAV-military yard. Policemen came out from their blockhouse, but they did nothing as a coalition of No Tav majors plus some Five-Star Movement MPs were participating in it. The popular demonstration testified the cohesion of the movement: a fact that was not accepted by the institutions.
So, on early Monday 29, the Public Prosecutor ordered home searches of twelve No Tav activists in Susa Valley and Turin, accusing them of involvement in terrorism and subversion. The movement immediately rejected this institutional blackmail: the first ones to condemn the Prosecutor’s abuse were the majors and the president of the Mountain Community in the Susa Valley. Solidarity with the activists spreaded in the social networks not only fueled by No Tav supporters, but also from several thousands of enraged people. The Italian people do not accept this umpteenth challenge made by the self-interest of a corrupt political system, the same who justifies and imposes the austerity measures, which totally failed in other countries.
Actually, the No Tav one is also a very important movement of social recomposition in Italy, embedding a wide systemic criticism against financial and territorial lobbies. For this reason, in Italy the powers that be fear the movement; while the No Tav people do not fear its counterparty…and still repeats: “A sarà düra!” (per loro) – It will be hard! (for them)
*For an account of some workings of the so-called “co-ops” system in Italy, please refer to these articles and reports
Ti è piaciuto questo articolo? Infoaut è un network indipendente che si basa sul lavoro volontario e militante di molte persone. Puoi darci una mano diffondendo i nostri articoli, approfondimenti e reportage ad un pubblico il più vasto possibile e supportarci iscrivendoti al nostro canale telegram, o seguendo le nostre pagine social di facebook, instagram e youtube.
