Acampada. At the University of Bologna the students pro Gaza (or anti-Israel) and the Palestinian Youth promise to set up the first tents in the university area today. An Italian version of what has already been seen in the United States, a UCLA in Los Angeles or the Columbia in New York, to give two examples, theaters of clashes, evictions and thousands of arrests. After the ferocious massacre carried out by Hamas on 7 October there were no similar initiatives, but the war unleashed by Netanyahu in the following days, which did not spare Palestinian civilians, is instead causing a varied mobilization first in the USA, then in Europe. After the outbreaks in Spain and France, yesterday, for example, around a hundred students occupied a building at the University of Lausanne.
ATTENTION
What can happen in Italy? A meeting of the Order and Security Committee with the ministers of the University and the Interior will take place in ten days. The rectors who, in recent days, have spoken as little as possible, fearful of fueling tensions in the universities, will also participate. The cancellation of the conference that had been organized for Tuesday Milan, at the State University, by some pro-Israel associations on the theme “The only democracy in the Middle East” for security reasons represented a worrying precedent. «We need to create a cordon sanitaire to isolate the violent and pro-Hamas demonstrators who occupy universities and do not allow book presentations» commented Davide Romano, director of the Jewish Brigade Museum.
For today at Bologna the Cua (Autonomous University Collective) has announced an «acampada for Palestine» after the assembly which will take place in Piazza Scaravilli, in front of the Rectorate and near Via Zamboni, the university street par excellence of the city of the Two Towers. The tents will therefore be pitched, with an initiative that on a symbolic but also practical level follows what was seen in America. They say from the Palestinian Youth movement: “We will launch the student intifada.” Even at Wisdom there will be assemblies in Rome, but mobilizations are planned everywhere, from Turin to Milan, from Pisa to Florence. The coordination is national in view of the symbolic date of May 15th. The objective, say the pro-Palestine supporters, is to decide how to unify the protests in view of May 15, the day of the Nakba (it means “catastrophe”, recalling the forced exodus of 700 thousand Palestinian Arabs in 1948 who were forced to leave their homes ). The Interior Ministry, starting from 7 October, raised the alert level to the maximum. It means great attention on the prevention and protection of sensitive targets. The Minister of the Interior, Matteo Plant yourselfthe other day he repeated: «We are managing the difficult work of finding the balance point between ensuring the freedom of expression of thought, which is a fundamental cornerstone of our democracy, and the absolute refractoriness to any form of violence ». On several occasions, however, he warned: there is the danger of infiltration into legitimate protests. There are no concrete signs of actions organized with terrorist purposes and methodologies, but there is the fear that fringes of antagonism, of social centers, of anarchists will exploit the demonstrations of university students and young Palestinians, to seek violent conflict with the police. When Piantedosi talks about the “balance” between the right to demonstrate and the prevention of any violence, his thoughts turn to what has been seen in American universities.
STRATEGY
What will the Italian police forces do if the tents block parts of the city or educational activities for several days or if the marches try to reach the rectories or government buildings, outside the permitted routes? The University Minister, Anna Maria Bernini, confirms: «On Monday 13 May I will have a meeting of the order and safety committee with my colleague Piantedosi. The rectors will also participate. With the president of the Crui – the conference of Italian rectors – Giovanna Iannantuoni we will make sure to understand what the situation is in the relationship with the students. There is protest but there is also a very small fringe that goes beyond certain limits. Healthy protest is an enrichment. The thing that worries me is when the protest shows groups carrying out destructive actions and crimes, breaking down doors, with heavy attacks on the police.”
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