The new Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, has debuted with the message that Italy is going to become a state of law and order. In one of her first measures as head of the Executive, Meloni has approved a law to toughen the punishments for raves that has caused enormous controversy in the country. While the opposition criticizes that it is a freedom-killing measure, Amnesty International denounces that it is too ambiguous a proposal that could persecute any type of peaceful protest in Italy.
The catalyst for everything was a huge rave organized this weekend for Halloween of some 3,000 people who occupied a farmland on the outskirts of Modena. Then the new Minister of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi, ordered the police to vacate the place and the party ended early.
But, to convey that Italy "will not be a nation where you can go to commit crimes", in the decree law with the first measures of the new Government led by the extreme right-wing Brothers of Italy, a new type of crime has been introduced in the Code Italian criminal that provides a sentence of between three and six years in prison for those who organize and promote this type of clandestine parties, defined as "the invasion of land or buildings for meetings of more than 50 people that are dangerous to public order, the public safety or public health.
The problem, for the opposition and human rights organizations, is that they consider that under the pretext of combating these clandestine parties, the Italian Executive can disguise the punishments for all other types of concentrations, from student protests to union protests. . “We are concerned about the way this article of the Penal Code has been written, which puts the right of peaceful protest for citizens at risk. It has arbitrary and discretionary characteristics in the hands of the Government, and must be modified because, if not, any event with more than 50 people, from the occupation of a school, a factory or a university, can be attacked in this way " , declares to this newspaper Riccardo Noury, spokesman for Amnesty International in Italy.
The leader of the opposition, the still general secretary of the Democratic Party, Enrico Letta, has warned that this decree is "a very serious error", because it has nothing to do with raves, but rather "the freedom of citizens is questioned". Giuseppe Conte, leader of the 5-Star Movement, laments the "discretion" of the matter –everything will depend on the delegates of the Government, that is, the Executive–, while Riccardo Magi, exponent of the small Europa party, speaks of a "Putinian flavor". But not only politicians have raised their hands to their heads. The president of the Order of Lawyers of Milan, Vinicio Nardo, remarks that as there is talk of an invasion of buildings, "the freedom of assembly provided for by the Constitution" is also put at risk. Meanwhile, Gian Domenico Caiazza, president of a criminal association, warns that telephone interceptions will be possible as sentences of more than five years in prison are foreseen.
Given the enormous dust generated, Meloni issued a statement yesterday to reassure citizens, promising that they will not deny "anyone express their discontent." "Those who denied it were in the past those who attacked the measures of our Executive, defending those who invade other people's land," he attacked, vindicating his law.
The author of the regulations, Minister Piantedosi, who until recently was a Government delegate in Rome, nicknamed the "iron prefect", has also intervened. In his opinion, the anti-rave law will only be used against the "arbitrary invasion of large groups that constitutes a danger to public health and safety" and "does not attack in any way the right of expression and freedom of demonstration enshrined in the Constitution and defended by the institutions”. "The party is over," warned the leaguer Matteo Salvini, now Minister of Infrastructure.
The issue is especially burning because while the Italian government boasts of a strong hand against this type of party, some 2,000 nostalgic for fascism – including some Spaniards – celebrated the centenary of the march on Rome on Sunday without any problem in Predappio, hometown of the dictator Benito Mussolini, as they do every year on this date. And, in an interview in Corriere della Sera, Piantedosi defines raves as "dangerous events", but considers the Predappio demonstration to be a "slapstick" that "has been going on for years, without incident and under the control of the police forces”.
The other first measures of Meloni have been a proposal to prevent those convicted of mafia who do not collaborate with justice from obtaining prison benefits and to advance two months the return to work of non-immunized health workers, in a clear gesture before his anti-vaccine voters. The prime minister thus wants to mark a political discontinuity with the previous government of Mario Draghi, focused only on large-scale actions, since it is very likely that she will not have much room for major reforms in the current economic situation. Today she will make her debut in Brussels, on her first international trip, to meet with EU leaders and ask them to allow the redesign of the Italian recovery plan with the aim of mitigating rising energy prices.
Another issue that is of great concern to humanitarian organizations is the situation of the NGOs that rescue migrants at sea, with more than three boats with almost 1,000 migrants yesterday waiting for a safe port to disembark. Minister Piantedosi, Salvini's former chief of staff when he was at war against immigration, has also been very clear on this and has warned that Italian ports are closed to humanitarian ships "We cannot take care of migrants picked up at sea by foreign ships that systematically operate without any coordination from the authorities,” he told Corriere.
