Bologna, the square and the “extremist drift on both sides”. Casini speaks out

Rome. The death of Abderrahim Fakir in Bologna, the police officers, the square, the unrest, the controversy surrounding the Democratic Party mayor Matteo Lepore and the counter-controversy directed at the right-wing, which is targeting Roberto Vannacci over the Roggero case: the security crisis is affecting both political coalitions. “Unfortunately, like all the issues most keenly felt by citizens – such as immigration – security is being dragged into the cauldron of the election campaign, a most serious and pernicious development for the state,” says Pierferdinando Casini, a Bolognese and centre-left ‘free agent’, elected to the Senate with the Democrats and a former Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies with a solid post-DC background. Pernicious? “Yes, just think of the rush to introduce new legislation designed to appease public opinion, resulting in the measures themselves being ineffective: not solutions, but slogans.” Casini reflects on “the catchphrase about neighbourhood watch schemes, presented by the original Lega as an extraordinary solution to a complex problem. But how many such schemes have we actually seen, once the furore had died down? None. There you have it: the point is precisely this. Politics should explain to citizens what is happening and not abdicate its educational role. There are no simple answers to complex problems.” Is the way the Roggero case has unfolded an example of oversimplification? “That Roggero held a sort of rally before going to prison may be debatable, but there is no point in arguing with him; he is a convicted criminal and, in a sense, one can even understand him. But for those at the very highest levels of government to kick up a fuss about a pardon, without waiting for the grounds for the judgement to be read out and by improperly involving the Head of State – well, what is that if not an election campaign?’ Justice Minister Carlo Nordio must be cringing. Was taking to the streets in Bologna after Fakir’s death also a simple solution to a complex problem? “All decisions are open to debate and all, with the benefit of hindsight, can be judged differently,” says Casini, “but reality tells us that it is not normal for a person to die the way Fakir did. The starting point of this story is not the demonstration called by Mayor Lepore; it is the death of a man. A partial video of those moments has been released: the two police officers were wearing bodycams, they switched them on and handed the footage over to the judicial authorities, which speaks in their favour. Bologna’s chief prosecutor, who is widely respected across the political spectrum, has said that the investigation will take into account the full sequence of events. We shall wait.” That evening, he did not wait. “Bologna has its own tradition of street protests, whether you like it or not: if the city is severely harmed, the mayor may decide that the wave of public outrage must be expressed, but the people on the streets were peaceful.” Not all of them. “Whether troublemakers infiltrated the crowd is another matter. Even without a demonstration, those masked thugs would probably have used Fakir’s death as a pretext to attack and cause damage, with no interest in the truth. Their sole aim was to attack the police. But the people of Bologna are not against the police.” Nevertheless, one wonders whether it was right or wrong to call the demonstration. “In hindsight, we could probably have waited a few hours, but that doesn’t change the issue.” We need to draw up the centre-left’s programme. How should the PD tackle the issue of security? “I speak for myself and have no authority to speak on behalf of the PD, but I can offer some advice.” Let’s hear it. “Leaving the right-wing parties with a monopoly on security is absurd and self-defeating, just as it is to let them have a monopoly on the affection Italians feel for the police. At the same time, Italy cannot become the Wild West just to go after Vannacci.” Local authorities are calling for more police officers. “There’s a shortage of officers, as many centre-left mayors have also pointed out; they’re calling for greater presence on the ground, more prevention and more training. Given the severe staff shortages, many officers today are very young. And they need to be trained to handle dramatic cases such as the Fakir case.” Are we no longer able to tackle violence on the streets? “I am a product of an era when violent individuals who infiltrated demonstrations of all political persuasions were marginalised. Nobody exploited the situation for their own ends. Today, however, reading some comments, it almost seems as though Lepore sent the violent protesters. This is unacceptable. There is a great deal of exploitation. Above all, there is a drift towards extremism: in Bologna, across the country and on both sides.”