Anger in Italy after Moroccan man dies during arrest | DW News

[00:00:02]Outrage and anger directed especially against the police. Protesters in Bologna clashed with officers repeatedly on Monday. Many shocked that a man who appeared to have been unarmed could die at the hands of police.

[00:00:18]Earlier, thousands gathered outside city hall to demand a full investigation into the death of Abd Raheem Fakia. His niece gave an impassioned plea for justice and dignity.

[00:00:32]>> Those who wear a uniform carry an enormous responsibility to protect people, especially the most vulnerable.

[00:00:46]That is why we call for every action and any possible misconduct to be investigated with the utmost care.

[00:00:58]Abd Rahim Fakia was in his early 40s.

[00:01:01]He'd lived in Italy since childhood and ran a small business. He died on Sunday while being forcibly held down for a number of minutes by two police officers. Police had been called in to deal with a man who was behaving aggressively and damaging a vehicle.

[00:01:18]Video on social media showed Fakia calling for help as he was restrained and saying he couldn't breathe before he gradually stopped moving. All while ambulance workers looked on. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

[00:01:33]Many protesters are expressing skepticism that Italy's farright government will be transparent in their investigation.

[00:01:40]Prime Minister Georgio Maloney posted on X, "It is imperative that any responsibility be investigated with the utmost rigor. The truth must be pursued to the very end without prejudice and without making exceptions for anyone."

[00:01:54]But she also condemned the unrest, saying nothing can justify violence against law enforcement.

[00:02:01]56 officers were injured in the clashes with protesters. An investigation into Fakya's death is now underway. Officials say police body cam footage will be made available.

[00:02:14]>> Okay, straight to the Italian capital.

[00:02:17]Uh we can talk to journalist Sema Gupta.

[00:02:19]Welcome, Sema. Um tell us more about why this case is causing such outrage.

[00:02:26]I think the main reason why it's causing so much outrage is really this video uh that a resident of the building uh filmed of uh the last few moments and minutes of Fakir's life. Uh the video has been shared widely on social media and it shows him being pinned down face down by the officers and we hear him in the video calling out for help saying enough and he's he's uh sh moving trying to get free and then up to a certain point the movement completely stops and he's surrounded by these four uh emergency uh medical workers who don't appear to be doing anything to help him either. And so I think this powerful video is just making uh the residents of Bolognia who feel like there that such a thing how could such a thing happen in the city when it appears as if uh this man 42 years old. Yes, perhaps something was wrong with him but he appears to be unarmed and yet this has happened. On top of that of course also this has reignited the debate on the use of force by the police uh when they are carrying out their activities.

[00:03:36]>> Okay. And and does Bolognia's police force h have a problem with the use of force?

[00:03:43]>> Um well not I don't know about Bologna in particular but in Italy as a whole there have been cases in the past and stories in the past about um um extreme use of force uh by the police and by the security services whether in dealing with protesters or sometimes with uh people that they've detained. Uh there have been cases, cases have been investigated, people are taken to task eventually. Uh but this is an issue here and so this has sort of reignited the debate and there has been comparisons with past acts as well. So because of that there is a lot of discussion and we see the right-wing government uh members of the right-wing government uh coming out in support of the police at least defending them saying look we have to investigate the situation. Let's look at the body cam uh footage. We know that prosecutors have opened that investigation, but the opposition politicians are saying, "Well, we want accountability. There has to be truth and justice for Fakir."

[00:04:43]>> And and the victim not white. Is there a suspicion that racism played a part in his death?

[00:04:51]>> Well, uh I think there is definitely that idea that he was uh not an Italian.

[00:04:57]Uh there would be some people who say well uh if it was an Italian person would they have treated him in this way.

[00:05:03]Uh there are others who say well um this was a person who was behaving very aggressively and maybe they felt that they were taking the right measures and in fact uh there has been discussion about what is the protocol really in such situations when someone is not altogether there and maybe out of it or how should one approach the situation.

[00:05:25]There is discussion on that, but there's also uh some opposition politicians who are drawing the similarities, as you mentioned, to the case of George Floyd uh back in 2020 when a black man in the United States was pinned down by white police officers and died in the process and was ruled to have been murdered by those police officers. So they are drawing those similarities and of course we'll have to see what the investigators come up with when they look into uh the actions taken by the two police officers but as well as by the four uh medical workers that were present.

[00:06:01]>> The the prime minister has has asked for the uh the investigation to be rigorous.

[00:06:06]Are people confident that it will be?

[00:06:10]>> Well, the prosecutors have opened an investigation uh into manslaughter. uh they will be looking at it. Uh the the magistrates will do the investigation.

[00:06:20]They will look at the the footage and also perhaps footage from other residents. Uh I myself saw interviews uh on local media uh with residents expressing shock at the idea that the ambulance uh staff weren't doing anything to help this man. So uh the authorities will be looking at that.

[00:06:39]They have an a number of days to look through the evidence to look what they can find and to see whether they in can indeed put together a case against those officers and the ambulance staff. But for now, it's an investigation.

[00:06:52]>> And how unusual is it for the the prime minister to become involved in what is essentially a a local uh incident, albeit tragic?

[00:07:03]>> I think it was a very tragic local incident. You're absolutely right. But it resulted in those very violent protests. Now the majority of people that turned out for the demonstration, a demonstration by the way uh that was called for by the mayor of Bolognia in support for what happened and he did invite in fact the niece of Fakir to speak at that event and that was largely peaceful. that some um a few hundred or so protesters uh took that demonstration into the night and things did get violent with some 64 officers injured, property being damaged. Uh the officers were attacked with chairs, with bottles uh and and uh with other kinds of u weapons if you like. And so because of that there has been a strong reaction uh from the interior minister, from the prime minister, from the deputy prime minister saying that violence cannot lead to more violence. And in fact that is exactly what the mayor of Bolognia said himself highlighting the fact that a large number of people actually protested uh peacefully not so much with that smaller group of people.

[00:08:09]>> Thank you Sema. A journalist Simma Gupta in Rome.