Over 10,000 marched, protesters broke into three sites and destroyed construction materials and vehicles

~ Gabriel Fonten ~

Around ten thousand protesters marched in Susa Valley, Italy on Saturday 26 July against the Turin-Lyon high-speed rail line (TAV). The march began at the annual Alta Felicità Festival, before splitting into three marches against current and future construction sites. The No-TAV movement (which has been active for decades) is no stranger to direct action and all three sites were damaged by attacks.

Marchers were met with force by the police, which at the San Didiero site reportedly fired tear gas canisters at head height. Protesters threw rocks and firecrackers in return. Meanwhile, several work and police vehicles were rendered unusable, along with the building slated to become the future offices of highway management company Sitaf.

At Traduerivi, protesters broke through barbed wired fences and destroyed construction materials and vehicles. After this, they blocked the Torino-Bardonecchia highway with burning barricades.

At Clarea, protesters broke into the site, holding it for an hour while they sabotaged structures. Police were reportedly reluctant to leave their positions, since in previous years more protests had erupted overnight in response to repression.

As of yet, there have been no arrests reported, but police are expected to take advantage of the new “Security Decree” passed in June that grants them new powers to crack down on demonstrators as well as the ability to “commit certain crimes” without facing persecution.

The reaction from the Italian far right government has been vitriolic. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed “solidarity and closeness” with the police saying that “acts of urban guerrilla warfare are unworthy of a civilised nation”. Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi branded the protests “the worst face of an ideological extremism that must be firmly isolated and repressed”.