The Italian government has urgently adopted a package of strict security measures, which include longer sentences and greater police powers, which has been criticized by the opposition, agencies reported.
The right-wing government of Prime Minister Giorgio Meloni adopted the measures on Thursday evening, just a day before the opening of the Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina.
The reason, according to the agencies, is the increase in violence in the country, especially among young people, and the latest serious incidents occurred last weekend at a protest in Turin, when around a hundred police officers were injured and 30 demonstrators were arrested.
The package also includes a controversial preventive detention measure, which allows police to detain people they consider a "risk to public safety" before some protests and hold them for up to 12 hours.
Among the measures are tougher penalties for carrying cold weapons. "Anyone who carries a knife or other object with a blade longer than eight centimeters without a justified reason will be punished with up to three years in prison," reads a government decree that has the force of law.
Giorgia Meloni wrote on social media that "specific instruments" are being introduced that will prevent the presence of organized violent groups that have nothing to do with the right to protest, and that use it as an excuse "to cause violence and destruction."
The Prime Minister added that the package also includes tougher penalties for pickpockets and measures aimed at addressing the "child gang phenomenon", such as a ban on the sale of knives to minors, and a fine of up to 1.000 euros for parents whose children are caught carrying a knife.
The leader of the opposition Green-Left Alliance, Angelo Bonelli, said the decree was repressive and that it would have been much more useful if the police had been allocated more resources to fight crime.
Bonelli assessed the preventive arrest measure as a serious violation of the constitutional right to protest.
Interior Minister Matteo Piantedossi dismissed the criticism, saying that similar provisions on preventive detention exist in many European countries.
Bonus video:
