Guerrilla warfare broke out in the Susa Valley, where the high-speed rail construction sites were stormed by hundreds of hooded opponents, who also used Molotov cocktails in the attacks.
Around fifty law enforcement officers were injured and trucks were set on fire : this is the first report of a real battle.
"Those who throw firecrackers, set fire to state vehicles, and attack law enforcement aren't defending an idea, they're attacking the state," Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni wrote on social media, adding that "violence won't break the state: those who serve Italy will never be left alone." President Sergio Mattarella called Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi to express his solidarity and gratitude to law enforcement.
The construction sites of San Didero, and especially of Chiomonte, were attacked by hundreds of opponents belonging to the so-called Black Bloc, heirs of the Black Bloc who a decade ago were protagonists of urban guerrilla warfare in various cities, including Genoa during the 2001 G8 .
Italians and foreigners, many French, but also Spanish and German , took advantage of the No TAV demonstration, dubbed by the organizers as the "march towards the construction sites of devastation," which started in Venaus and which, according to the movement, attracted twenty thousand people . Among them were members of the most extremist wing, who threw firecrackers, rockets, stones, and, for the first time in a long time, numerous Molotov cocktails at the police deployed to protect the construction sites.
The heaviest clashes occurred in Chiomonte, where hooded protesters managed to enter the construction site and set fire to at least two Carabinieri vans . After the start of the No TAV march, organized on the sidelines of the tenth edition of the Alta Felicità Festival, the activists split into different groups. The first tensions, lasting about twenty minutes, were seen in San Didero, where police responded to the throwing of firecrackers and stones with tear gas, driving the protesters away. Meanwhile, a larger group reached the Chiomonte construction site via trails.
The Black Bloc then attacked on multiple fronts, apparently following a coordinated strategy and a pre-established plan . Covered by gas masks and goggles to protect themselves from tear gas, shields, helmets, and armed with anything that could be thrown at the police, Carabinieri, and Guardia di Finanza, the opponents managed to penetrate what they dubbed "the fort." Guerrilla warfare lasted for over an hour, until law enforcement managed to repel them, forcing them to retreat through the woods from which they had come . During the retreat, the opponents removed their black clothing. Earlier during the assault, some of them had opened the umbrellas they had been carrying to avoid being filmed and identified by law enforcement drones.
During the clashes, the Turin-Bardonecchia highway was closed between the Susa and Oulx Ovest junctions, in both directions. Some train services between Bardonecchia and Salbertrand were also suspended due to the presence of a group of protesters on the tracks in Bruzolo, near the San Didero construction site. Before the demonstration, law enforcement had seized slingshots, rockets, marbles, firecrackers, and fireworks at the Bardonecchia station. On the eve of the No TAV march, Turin's prefect, Donato Cafagna, had imposed restrictions and bans for reasons of safety and public order, while Police Chief Massimo Gambino had issued fourteen measures, including urban bans and expulsion orders from Venaus.
(Unioneonline)
