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09 February 2019A urban war in the center of Turin for the procession of social and anarchist centers against the eviction of occupied asylum, completed yesterday after two days of tension. A thousand protesters, many of them hooded or with a helmet, have created a climate of terror for at least two hours.Four people were injured, one, who was part of the procession, was rescued by an ambulance, but her condition is less serious than what was feared.
11 protesters were arrested by the Turin police headquarters for the march accidents. They are accused of devastation, port and launch of exploding objects, aggravated resistance, road blockade.
The protesters devastated furniture, lit the rubbish bins, then put them sideways to create dams in the streets, tore up road signs and protections, split windows, smeared walls and windows, damaged cars, trams and buses. A showcase of Smat, the company that supplies drinking water to Turin, has collapsed. All kinds of objects have been launched against the police, large firecrackers, glass bottles, metal waste bins, tiles, large stones. The police responded by throwing tear gas several times, but the procession did not disperse.
A group of black bloc assaulted a Gtt line bus (Gruppo Torinese Trasporti), in Corso Regina Margherita, damaging glass, seats and walls. "I have never seen anything like it - the driver said - they were possessed, they entered by breaking everything". The few passengers who were on the bus managed to get off and away, scared but unharmed. Already before, however, in the nearest area of the riots the passengers had run down from the buses, running away.
The gathering of the demonstrators began at 16.00, in Piazza Castello, with many anarchists arriving from other cities of Piedmont and other regions, in particular Lombardy and Trentino. The objective of the demonstrators was "to take back the Asylum", evacuated at dawn on Friday after 23 years of occupation. The procession moved to Via Po heading towards Piazza Vittorio Veneto and hundreds more protesters swelled the ranks behind the banner with the words "They make war on the poor and call it redevelopment. Let us resist against the masters of the city".
The first problems when passing in front of the Carabinieri 'San Carlo' barracks: the walls were smeared and some cars in the parking areas reserved for the weapon were damaged. A little later the tension has skyrocketed, spreading panic in the neighborhood, among passers-by and residents, in the Vanchiglia district. "All this cannot be confused in any way with the exercise of democracy," commented the mayor Chiara Appendino. "The episodes of violence perpetrated by some protesters in Turin today are of an unheard-of gravity". The president of the Piedmont Region, Sergio Chiamparino, speaks of "intolerable violence committed by groups of anarchists. These are serious acts that cannot be justified". Thunder the Minister of the Interior: "Galera for these infamous. Reduced to almost zero landings now close the social centers frequented by criminals," says Matteo Salvini, speaking of a city "hostage to a few hundred criminals of the social centers".
Shortly before 9pm the calm seems to have returned, but the attention remains high even in view of a possible new initiative for tomorrow afternoon.