clashes and injured officers (video) –

Clashes and tension in Turin, where on the morning of Tuesday 23 April a group of pro-Palestine students tried to force the police cordon and reach the Valentino castle, where a meeting is taking place between representatives of local institutions and the government, including including the deputy prime minister Antonio Tajani, the university minister Anna Maria Bernini, the agriculture minister Francesco Lollobrigida and the environment minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin. About thirty people were identified by Digos.

Seven representatives of the police forces were injured this morning in Turin, when the demonstrators of the university collectives in procession attempted to break through the blockade to reach the site of the Conference of scientific and space workers and agricultural experts. Even among the demonstrators there were some injured. In the videos documenting the clashes, demonstrators can be heard shouting “get the Zionists out of the university” and “get the cops out of the demonstration”.

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Procession in Turin “Zionists out of the University. We contest the presence of Tajani, Eni, Minister Bernini and leaders of the MAECI at the Polytechnic of Turin.” pic.twitter.com/gBhmLasimD

— Alex_chicchi (@alex_chicchi) April 23, 2024

The activists ask, among other things, for the interruption of collaborations between Italian and Israeli universities. “I will never cancel those agreements, given that they were made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and they are scientific agreements. Science has no borders, it is not a question of parties or nations. If it means saving a human life, let it be of a Jew, Christian, Muslim or atheist, scientific research must continue and woe betide anyone who wants to stop it for political reasons”, commented Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Antonio Tajani. “It is not a question of the government of Israel – he said – it is a question with the State and with the Universities, therefore we work for research. And as we work with many other countries in the world, we will continue to do so with the Israeli Universities. Protesting is legitimate, but my answer is that these agreements cannot be changed.”

“The University does not boycott, but includes. We have a very effective collaboration with Israel on highly innovative projects that we will carry forward”, says the Minister of University and Research Anna Maria Bernini. “The University does not take sides, it does not go to war, we are children of a scientific diplomacy that makes us all grow together as bearers of peace. This is the only meaning of the University in Italy, Europe and in the world”.