There is a person on the ground helpless, crouched between the sidewalk and the parking strips of mopeds, four officers are standing against her, the first hits her with a kick, the second grabs her neck, the third stuns her with the spray pepper before the arrival of another policeman who deals a new blow.
We are in Milan, near the Bocconi University, it is Wednesday morning. The local police officers are the ones to hit, a trans woman is attacked. The violence was documented by a citizen who filmed the scene with a cell phone before sending the video to a social media channel which released it and made it public.
The video lasts a minute and a half, an abuse of power that is perpetuated against a defenseless person, slumped to the ground, in the background you can hear the sirens of police cars, from the balcony someone comments: “But they are crazy”.
A sentence that precedes the second part of the attack with two policemen who, at a distance of one and a half meters from the woman, act without respecting the rules of engagement, the regulation and, needless to say, the constitutional charter. Incomprehensible screams are heard, an agent approaches and hits her on the head, they lay her down, two others approach, immobilize her, one last kick is taken to complete the arrest.
A national issue
The city which, a few weeks ago, recorded yet another episode of violence against a woman, raped in a station, which struggles to contain episodes of assaults and abuses, even by baby gangs, finds itself dealing not only with a deficit of security, but also of credibility on the part of those who should guarantee security. An isolated event that takes nothing away from the diligence and responsibility of the nearly 3,000 people who make up the body, but which casts a stain that soon became a national political issue.
Some police unions, in particular the Sulpl, have specified that that scene is the epilogue of what is not seen, previously the woman would have insulted children outside a school, resisted public officials and attacked the agents, for this she was reported on the loose.
The reactions
«Nothing could ever provide a cover for what can be seen in that footage, we ask Mayor Sala for an immediate verification of the facts and the immediate suspension of the agents who attacked. We would like to highlight to Minister Piantedosi that what happened one week after the World Day Against Homobistransphobia shows the urgency of a law that protects us and punishes, with aggravating circumstance, even the police forces who are guilty of such crimes» declares Fabrizio Marrazzo, spokesperson for the Gay LGBT+ party.
The mayor of Milan, Beppe Sala, spoke of a serious fact, the councilor for security, Marco Granelli, declared that checks were underway and confirmed what was reconstructed by the unions. “The agents received a request for help from some parents because a woman showed harassing attitudes,” the commissioner wrote on social media.
The woman would have been stopped, would have refused treatment and on the way to the detention office of the local police would have managed to escape. The police officers have been moved to the internal services and risk suspension, but every measure will be taken following the outcome of the checks and the investigation. The prosecutor’s office is also investigating the incident.
«The images of the woman being beaten on the head by local police officers in Milan are disgusting. Whatever the context and whatever happened “before” what was filmed by the citizen», says Pierfrancesco Majorino, leader of the Democratic Party in the Lombardy region. Senator Ilaria Cucchi, on the other hand, is ready to bring the case to Parliament: «The perpetrators of so much violence shouldn’t think they can get away with it. We are once again faced with terrible scenes that once again show a fury, by people in uniform, against more fragile subjects. The fact that they wear a uniform does not constitute an extenuating circumstance, if anything an aggravating circumstance».
Estimate for agents
On the other hand, the majority receive certificates of esteem for the agents. “I wish to express full solidarity with the policemen who did their duty, preventing that person from following up on the threats against the children of a Milanese school,” said Brothers of Italy deputy Stefano Maullu.
The identification codes
There would be one way to avoid partisan reconstructions, as a guarantee for those who suffer violence, but also for the forces of order: to equip the agents with a bodycam, the camera on the operators, and an identification code. But these are proposals that the centre-left parties did not adopt when they were in government and which they see the right-wing firmly against, even ready to review the crime of torture.
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