Gabrielli says: “Piantedosi carries no political weight. Crosetto is better. To the left, I say that repression is not blasphemy”

If needed, Franco Gabrielli will be there. He’ll be there for the primaries, if they go ahead, and if he’s asked by Più Uno, by Ernesto Maria Ruffini, by his friends, by his community. He’ll be there, as he tells Il Foglio: “I believe that the Minister of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi, carries no political weight and that, once again, we must thank President Mattarella. I believe this situation should not be interpreted through sensationalist rhetoric that stirs up old ghosts. I believe the old clichés no longer hold water.” And what does he believe when he thinks of the events in Milan, the lorries, and Meloni’s ‘iron-fisted’ decree? “Ensuring security means reassuring people rather than frightening them, and that, paradoxically, Crosetto is right about the military.” Do we need a curfew like in France? “Do you know what that would cause? More fear.” Doesn’t the left, which underestimates violence, frighten you? “It happened in the past, but I don’t see it today. Repression is not a dirty word.”

Whenever the right wing calls him ‘the cop’ and points to him as the third man, the hidden figure, Gabrielli smiles and says: ‘Tremble, tremble, the witches are back’. When they try, even on the left, to pass him off as the security expert and ask him: ‘Gabrielli, give us a solution’, Gabrielli stands up and replies emphatically: ‘Don’t fall into the trap of oversimplification. I’ve written a book on security; it contains everything – or nearly everything. What I mean is that security is a serious matter.’ He uses the word ‘multi-faceted’ because, he explains, ‘reality is more complex and multi-faceted’, but Gabrielli cannot stand the narrative put forward by the right, the government and Meloni. He sides with Guido Crosetto, the Defence Minister, who would have liked to grant police powers to the military and the army, and tells me: “Paradoxically, Crosetto is right about the military: if you want them, they can’t just be window dressing.” Would Gabrielli also like to see them in Milan, marching with tanks and making arrests with handcuffs? Gabrielli takes his time and space, then elaborates on his point: “The issue is precisely this: that the military shouldn’t be involved and the police force should be utilised to the full, but to do this we need a different vision of public security administration. In this hypothetical clash between Crosetto and the rest of the government, Crosetto is the most consistent. He’s prepared to offer the military but says: ‘I’ll give them to you on my terms.’ It’s a position to be rejected out of hand, but it tears away the veil of hypocrisy.” It is that hypocrisy that makes Italians love the Frecce Tricolori but prevents them from seeing the need for defence spending. It is the hypocrisy that would allow Putin to advance as far as Trieste, or the hypocrisy of those who want security but take legal action against the teacher who tells off their son – in the south, ‘u picciriddu’.

Gabrielli also shares Crosetto’s view: “We want the military, but as actors – which is essentially a humiliation for them – and in perfect line with our never-clarified stance on the defence apparatus, on the right as well as on the left”. In Rome, at Termini station, after the arrival of the last train (there are videos on social media), these soldiers can be seen boarding their armoured vehicle and returning to the barracks. Everyone is going home. Gabrielli adds: “And I’ll spare you Salvini’s dishonourable comment – about our armed forces”. Do you remember what he said? “Essentially, he said that rather than keeping them in the barracks, as if they were doing nothing, the soldiers should be made available to the ‘Safe Roads’ initiative.” And what did Gabrielli think? “That there was no outcry from the usual defenders of the uniform. Evidently, there are some who are less deserving of solidarity…”.

Let’s return to the topic of Milan, the attacks by hooded men armed with cornflakes, and the word ‘unprecedented’, used by Piantedosi at a press conference following the approval of the decree on demonstrations. Gabrielli uses an expression that has now become a classic: the Schlein-esque “they didn’t see me coming”. He says: “When the Interior Ministry talks about something ‘unprecedented’, it means they didn’t see it coming. When you’ve got them in the streets and in those circumstances, you’re forced to play catch-up.” For Crosetto, it is hybrid warfare—or rather, guerrilla warfare; for others, there is a Russian hand behind it (which Salvini denies); and Lollobrigida also speaks of ‘criminal infiltration’ within the legitimate protest by lorry drivers. For Gabrielli, ‘there is certainly a cognitive war underway, but in the sense that it exploits the divisions within our democratic society and widens them. It doesn’t create them’.” I ask him: would he block social media for minors, ban it for those under 14 – as Meloni now says she is prepared to consider – or is a proper French-style curfew better? Gabrielli, who has a good memory, points out that on the left ‘many are saying this publicly too, starting with Avs. I’m always sceptical about draconian measures. Apart from the complexity of implementing them, we can monitor the situation instead. We have the tools today’. And is the left up to it? Gabrielli, the only one on that side with the credentials to do so – ‘the cop’ – isn’t afraid to introduce the concept of ‘repression’: ‘I’m asked how to intervene, what solutions there are, and I reply: by providing concrete answers for today, recognising that repression isn’t a dirty word, but by working hard on tomorrow. And when I say ‘tomorrow’, I mean tackling the root causes: social marginalisation, responsible management of immigration, mental health, early school leaving, employment and housing’. I ask him again whether there is a desire on the right to stir up old spectres of the ‘Years of Lead’, the spanner attacks, and whether there is anything new yet ancient. Books on the ‘Years of Lead’ are also making a comeback in bookshops, such as John Foot’s essay on the Red Brigades (Einaudi), alongside novels by Alessandro Gazzoli (L’inevitabile accade, Nottetempo) and Andrea Oriente (La nostra giovinezza, Sellerio). Gabrielli, who has a penchant for reminiscing, says: “A few weeks ago, there was talk of a link between jihadism and anarchism. Now it’s about strategies… you see, because there’s no need for soundbites?”. He shares the fear felt by many, which is evident among the police unions. Vannacci wants officers like Greg Bovino, the policeman from Trump’s ICE, whilst Salvini is now siding with the army. Gabrielli, however, believes that “the risk is that this state institution will feel lost and be pulled in different directions. It’s a real danger. It’s a concrete danger”. Are the figures being manipulated too? Referring to those released by the Ministry of the Interior, Gabrielli spoke of “statistical pornography”. Has he perhaps had a change of heart? He replies: “Why should I have had a change of heart? When there is a compulsive use of numbers as never before? I made explicit reference to the August figures, recalling that in 2025 we were told that crime had fallen by nine per cent, when in fact, once the figures were finalised, it had fallen by 1.8 per cent. Or take repatriations. Why is it not mentioned that during the last parliamentary term, landings stood at 13 per cent, whereas today they are at 7 per cent? Why is there such an insistence on these spectacular yet partial figures? Pornography, in the broadest sense, refers to the self-satisfied, excessive display of a particular subject to stimulate an emotional reaction, often stripping the subject of its real value or context.” Today, Gabrielli, together with his comrade-in-arms and fellow adventurer, Ernesto Maria Ruffini, will speak to the foreign press and outline the ‘Proposals for a more equal country: six paths towards equality’. What will Gabrielli do? Does this mean he will stand in the primaries? ‘We don’t even know how they’ll be organised. I’m interested in developing the project I helped to bring into being. In any case, we will decide as a political entity and not as individual entities.” As Ruffini, his right-hand man, would say: Gabrielli, plus one.