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Man Dies During Police Restraint in Bologna; Protests and Clashes Follow
Abderrahim Fakir, 42, died Sunday after officers restrained him in the Pilastro neighbourhood. Demonstrations in Bologna on Monday night led to clashes involving firecrackers, tear gas and water cannon.
Jul 21, 8:48 AM·1m read4 sources
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Abderrahim Fakir died Sunday after police officers restrained him in Bologna’s Pilastro neighbourhood. The 42-year-old Moroccan-born man, who had lived in Italy since age five and ran a small removals and cleaning business, was approached shortly after noon following calls from residents about his erratic and aggressive behaviour.
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A video shows Fakir repeatedly calling “aiuto, aiuto, basta” as two officers sat on him while ambulance workers looked on.
Officers later bound his ankles and checked his vital signs with the medical team. Fakir reportedly had heart issues and asthma, and officers told ambulance personnel he was having a psychiatric episode. Prosecutors opened an investigation into the death and requested the officers’ body-cam footage.
Italian media reported that officers had called emergency services soon after arriving and tried to calm Fakir before using pepper spray and attempting to handcuff him. Protests took place in Bologna on Monday night. Demonstrators threw firecrackers near police buildings, and officers responded with tear gas and water cannon, The Guardian reported.
A group of protesters sat in a square holding a photograph of Fakir, the Ansa news agency said. Fakir’s sister, Khadija, told Corriere della Sera: “You can’t die like this. The police have to protect us.
Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi told public television that insulting remarks against police showed a lack of trust in law enforcement and the justice system. European Affairs Minister Tommaso Foti called chants of “police murderers” disgraceful. Far-right Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini defended the police, and Galeazzo Bignami praised the officers’ professional conduct.
Senator Ilaria Cucchi told Agence-France Presse she was sickened by expressions of solidarity with police after an inhumane act. Lawyer Barbara Spinelli, who met Fakir last year, told Ansa she had assured him Italy was a democratic country where police respect the rules and said she no longer knew how to tell people they need not be afraid.
