The death of Abderahim Fakir divided Italy

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called yesterday for a full investigation into the death of a man during an arrest in Bologna, while condemning violent protests against the police during which dozens of its members were injured.

Abderahim Fakir, born in Morocco, died on Sunday after police intervened in the Pilastro neighborhood, on the outskirts of Bologna, due to a man who was behaving aggressively and damaging a car.

Human rights activists and Italian opposition parties have demanded urgent answers over the death of 42-year-old Fakir, who had lived in Italy since the age of five and ran a small removals and cleaning business.

"It is necessary to establish any responsibility with the utmost rigor. The truth must be thoroughly investigated, without prejudice and without leniency towards anyone," Meloni wrote on the X network.

The right-wing prime minister also condemned the violence against police during a protest held late Monday night in central Bologna, in which, according to the police union COISP, 56 police officers were injured.

The protest turned violent when a group of demonstrators threw firecrackers, bottles and chairs at police, to which police responded with tear gas and water cannons, Italian media reported.

"Those who decided to use this incident as an excuse to ravage the city, attack police officers and spread violence were not looking for the truth, but for conflict," Meloni said.

In a video of Fakir's final moments, which has been widely shared on social media, he can be seen lying face down on the ground while being held by two police officers. He can be heard calling for help and saying he can't breathe, before gradually stopping moving. According to the Guardian, the officers then tied his ankles and only later checked his vital signs with an ambulance crew.

According to Italian media, Fakir had heart problems and asthma.

"You shouldn't die like this," Fakir's sister Khadija told the Corriere della Sera newspaper. "The police should protect us. If someone is upset, they should be calmed down, not killed like a dog."

Prosecutors have launched an investigation, and the case has reopened a debate in Italy about police use of force during arrests and prompted comparisons with earlier cases that led to years of legal proceedings and demands for reforms, according to Reuters.

The Guardian writes that the case in Italy has been compared to the murder of George Floyd in the United States six years ago, as well as to the methods used by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during the Donald Trump administration.

According to Italian media, the officers first tried to calm Fakir down, and then, after he allegedly reacted aggressively, they used pepper spray and subdued him while trying to handcuff him. Bologna police said that the body camera footage of the officers involved in the intervention would be provided to investigators.

The case has sparked reactions across the political spectrum. Opposition politicians are demanding full accountability, while members of the ruling coalition are defending the police officers who took part in the intervention.

"Just as every citizen has the right to the presumption of innocence, the same principle must apply to those who wear uniform," Interior Minister Matteo Piantedozzi told the daily Il Messaggero.

Far-right Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini also defended the police, while Galeazzo Binjami, head of the parliamentary group of Prime Minister Meloni's Brothers of Italy party in the lower house of parliament, praised the "professional conduct" of the officers.

The case has been compared to the killing of George Floyd in the US six years ago, as well as to the methods used by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during the Donald Trump administration.

Ilaria Cucci, a senator whose brother died in custody in 2009, told Agence France-Presse that she was disgusted by the expressions of "solidarity and gratitude" directed at the police after such an "inhumane act."

Kuki, a member of the opposition Greens and Left (AVS) alliance, criticized Meloni and her coalition government, saying their "policies imbued with hatred and racism" had contributed to creating an atmosphere of violence.

Francesco Boca, head of the center-left Democratic Party (PD) parliamentary group in the Senate, told the daily La Repubblica: "If the right wants to import the ICE model, it has chosen the wrong country. We have democratic antibodies."

Lawyer Barbara Spinelli told the Ansa news agency that she met Fakir last year, when he applied to extend his residence permit. She said he was a "very kind, educated and decent man" who was legally in Italy but feared deportation.

“I told him, ‘We are in Italy, a democratic country. Here the police follow the rules,’” she said. “I don’t know how I will ever be able to tell someone again that there is no reason to be afraid.”