1 day ago
10
Outrage across Italy’s political spectrum following death in Bologna likened to killing of George Floyd in 2020.
Published On 20 Jul 2026
Police have clashed with demonstrators in the northern Italian city of Bologna amid a second night of protests after a Moroccan man died while being arrested.
Hundreds rallied on Monday evening, with some throwing firecrackers and officers responding with tear gas and water cannon, amid a fierce political row over the death of Abderrahim Fakir the previous evening.
The radical right-wing government has condemned the demonstrations. Tommaso Foti, the European affairs minister in Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government, said that “the chants of ‘police murderers'” were “disgraceful”.
The incident has drawn inevitable comparisons to the killing of George Floyd by United States police in Minneapolis in 2020. Some demonstrators in Bologna have knelt with raised fists, a gesture associated with the Black Lives Matter movement that emerged in the aftermath of that killing.
The protests have won the backing of the city’s mayor and major trade unions. Opposition politicians have criticised the government for its handling of the incident, claiming its policies promote violence.
Demonstrators knelt with raised fists on Sunday, a gesture associated with the Black Lives Matter movement, while another group sat in a square on Monday holding a photograph of Fakir [Michele Lapini/Reuters]The 42-year-old Moroccan entrepreneur died as police detained him following reports of aggressive behaviour.
Video of the incident, filmed by a local resident and widely shared online, shows Fakir face down on the ground as two officers restrain him.
He repeatedly calls out “help, help, that’s enough” before falling silent.
Police then bind his ankles and only afterwards check his vital signs.
According to media reports, officers had used pepper spray and held him down while trying to handcuff him after he reacted aggressively.
“My brother had asked for help… and they killed him,” one of Fakir’s brothers told the Corriere Della Sera newspaper.
Bologna prosecutors have opened an inquiry under a newly introduced legal procedure and requested bodycam video from the officers involved.
The far-right Deputy Prime Minister, Matteo Salvini, and other government allies have praised the officers’ conduct.
Opposition figures have accused Meloni’s coalition of fostering a climate of hostility.
Centre-left legislator Francesco Boccia warned against Italy adopting an “ICE model” of US policing.
