Since the settlement of Meloni government several measures have been adopted which appear to have the aim of discourage activism and participation to the protests.
The so-called “Rave party law decree”, signed into law in late December 2022, was the first attempt to tighten the rules on gatherings. In its first formulation it could also have been applied to peaceful protests. However, our concern remains regarding a law that could still be subject to extensive interpretations allowing for the potential criminalization of labor strikes, student rallies and other initiatives.
Law no. 6 of 22 January 2024, however, adds to the penalties already provided for by the penal code, further administrative sanctions for punish activism that chooses cultural or landscape assets cas a goal of their acts of peaceful protest.
The authorities used it sanctioning instrument of “exit notices” towards climate justice activists, trade unionists, workers or people who have simply expressed their dissent. This measure acts on the person’s freedom of movement and directly impacts the activities of some protest movements. Its “indirect” impact is the intimidating effect that risks dissuading people from protesting.
The force during protests it is increasingly used excessive and unjustified. Amnesty International has collected numerous reports of people who have been victims or witnesses of a use of force by police forces that is not always necessary and not always in line with international standards. Just to give a few examples, we recall the most striking cases of Sairano (PV) (20 September 2023), Turin (2-3 October 2023), Bologna (6 December 2023), Naples (13 February 2024), Bologna (16 February 2024 ), and finally Florence and Pisa (23 February 2024), where al dialogue and attempts at de-escalation of tensions, fundamental bases for the protection, exercise and full enjoyment of the right to peaceful assembly and protest, the use of force was preferred.
Furthermore, Italy remains one of the last countries in Europe to have not yet equipped the police forces involved in public order operations with identification measures – such as alphanumeric identification codes – despite the European Parliament’s 2012 resolution calling on Member States to do so.
Get in touch.
Take to the streets and sign the appeal to ask for the right to protest to be protected in Italy.
“Demonstrate today for the rights of tomorrow” is an Amnesty International Italia campaign created in collaboration with activists from Baobab Experience, Extinction Rebellion, Fridays For Future, Greenpeace, Lucha Y Siesta, No Tav, Non Una di Meno and Unione Sindacale di Base.
The activist people of these associations and movements met in November 2023, in a four-day workshop, to find a common response to the promotion by institutions and media of a narrative that blames, denigrates and criminalizes those who protest peacefully in Italy.
In Italy, the Constitution in its art.17 guarantees citizens the right to assemble peacefully and without weapons; the exercise of the right to peaceful protest falls within the category of assembly, thus being protected at a constitutional level. However, in recent years, there is a growing concern, particularly on the part of the various souls of civil society, for the constant criminalization of peaceful protesters and for them forms of repression of dissent implemented on different levels.
Put the value back in the center protest that is the engine of change and restoring the right dignity to those who promote, organize and participate in peaceful protests, including through actions of civil disobedience, are the objectives of the campaign “Demonstrate today for the rights of tomorrow” which intends to remember the importance of the rights acquired in our past thanks to the demonstrations and other forms of protest organized in Italy. From the student protests to ask for more funding for public schools, to the first global pride, through the right to divorce and the right to abortion up to the great workers’ strikes of the 70s which made the Workers’ Statute possible. They are these the rights we can enjoy today, thanks to yesterday’s protests and all the movements and associations that contributed to the creation of this campaign invite people today to take to the streets and demonstrate for what will be the rights of tomorrow.
Activists are and remain fundamental actors of change to protect individual and community rights. As the UN Special Rapporteur on environmental defenders, Michel Forst, states: “These narratives and the smear campaigns that accompany them are a threat to democracy.” and they must be addressed.
See all the campaign posters
For the attention of the Prime Minister
Giorgia Meloni
Presidency of the Council of Ministers
Palazzo Chigi
Piazza Colonna, 370
00187 Rome
and the Minister of the Interior
Matteo Piantedosi
Ministry of the Interior
Piazza del Viminale, 1
00184 Rome
Dear Prime Minister,
Dear Minister of the Interior,
In July 2022, Amnesty International launched a global “Protect Protest” campaign to remind, among other things, governments that peaceful protests are not a threat to public order but a right for those who participate in them to contribute to change and to promote and defend their own rights and those of others.
Although the right to protest is not codified as a right in its own right in international treaties, when people take part in protests, individually or collectively, they exercise a range of rights that are protected, such as the right to freedom of expression and the right of peaceful assembly. International law guarantees freedom of expression and peaceful assembly to all. This includes the possibility of organizing meetings, sit-ins, strikes, demonstrations, events or protests, both physically and through online platforms. Peaceful assembly constitutes an essential means of exercising numerous other rights enshrined in international law, such as participation in political life or in a strike.
The right to protest, therefore, also provides for the possibility of organizing spontaneous gatherings in response to current events, so timely notification may not always be feasible in terms of time available, with the risk of making an event in vain. The simple failure to notify the competent authorities in advance of a demonstration – organized in advance or spontaneously – does not make it illegal and consequently does not in itself justify either the dispersal of the demonstration or the use of force against peaceful demonstrators. Peaceful protests create opportunities to advance societies and people’s rights and must therefore be protected, not attacked!
We wish to express concern at attempts, in recent months, to limit people’s right to freedom of peaceful assembly through, for example, cases of excessive or unnecessary use of force by police forces, denigrating and criminalizing rhetoric towards activists and demonstrators, and the adoption of measures that would appear to have the aim of discouraging activism and participation in protests (e.g. law 30 December 2022, no. 199 on the prevention and fight against illegal gatherings and law n.6 of 22 January 2024 on the defacement of cultural heritage).
To ensure that all people can take peaceful action and make their voices heard, safely and without repercussions, we ask you to:
– ensure that police forces use force as a last resort, only where no other means exist to achieve legitimate objectives and only when the use of force is necessary and proportionate to the situation they face, ensuring compliance with standards international;
– approve a law that introduces measures that allow the identification of officers engaged in public order operations through the use of alphanumeric identification codes clearly visible on the helmets and uniforms of officers engaged in public order activities, in line with international standards in the field;
– ensure that officers involved in public order operations have adequate training in the correct management and facilitation of meetings;
– promptly investigate in an impartial, independent and effective manner all allegations of human rights violations reported against police officers during the protests;
– ensure that so-called “less lethal” weapons such as batons, tear gas or water cannons are used only in situations of generalized violence with the sole purpose of dispersing the crowd, and only when all other means have failed to contain such violence. These weapons must not be used against people who are in a confined space where roads or other escape routes are blocked.
– ensure that the advance notification regime for demonstrations is treated only as a notice of intention to protest and not as an obligation or request for authorization for assemblies. The notification process must be clear, transparent, non-bureaucratic and non-discriminatory. Failure to notify does not mean that an assembly is illegal and therefore must be dispersed;
– guarantee the protection and facilitation of spontaneous demonstrations in the same way as other assemblies;
– ensure that criminal, civil and administrative legal systems are not used abusively to silence and dissuade protesters;
– put an end to stigmatizing speeches against peaceful protesters.
We thank you for your attention.
