Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese
on Tuesday denied allegations from Giorgia Meloni, the leader of
opposition, right-wing Brothers of Italy (FdI) party, that the
government deliberately mismanaged a Rome protest against the
Green Pass COVID-19 health certificate earlier this month that
degenerated into a riot.
Meloni said the authorities' handling of the October 9 violence,
including a raid in which the headquarters of trade union CGIL
were ransacked, was part of a 'strategy of tension'.
"There is a political interpretation (of the events) that tends
to give credit to the thesis of a plan," Lamorgese said as she
reported to the Lower House on the trouble.
"I must firmly reject this interpretation because it insinuates
that the forces of law and order would lend themselves to be the
instrument of dark political purposes.
"It is an unjust accusation that casts an unacceptable shadow
over the work of the forces of law and order".
Senior members of the far-right Forza Nuova party were among
several people arrested for allegedly orchestrating the
violence.
The protest was against the government making the Green Pass,
which shows that a person is vaccinated for COVID, has recovered
from it in the last six months or has tested negative in the
last few days, obligatory to access Italian places of work.
Lamorgese said the authorities were caught off guard because the
level of violence had gone well beyond "any reasonable
forecast".
The minister said she saw the period ahead, which features the
G20 summit in Rome at the end of the month, as being "highly
challenging" for the authorities.
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