rome —
The death of a Moroccan man in police custody sparked some violent protests in the northern city of Bologna after footage of police forcefully subduing him went viral.
Two police officers and four paramedics are being investigated for the involuntary manslaughter of a 42-year-old man who died after being handcuffed and restrained by police, Italian prosecutors told CNN.
The man, identified by his family as Abderrahim Fakir, was a legal resident.
In the video of the arrest, at least two police officers can be heard screaming for help while holding Fakir down. The incident has been compared to the 2020 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
The coroner’s office said an autopsy has been ordered to determine the cause of Fakir’s death.
Police did not provide details about the incident to CNN, citing the ongoing investigation.
But they told CNN affiliate and Italian state broadcaster RAI that they arrived on the scene Sunday in response to emergency calls from local residents who said a man was causing a disturbance by screaming and kicking the garage door.
Police said they called an ambulance, but video of the incident shows medics waiting for police to allow them access to Mr Fakir. The man was pronounced dead at the scene just before 10 a.m. local time, Bologna’s mayor’s office told CNN.
It is unclear from the video what happened early in the encounter and how police first engaged with Fakir.
Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Bologna on Sunday and Monday. Some people burned cars, smashed store windows and clashed with riot police, who used tear gas and water cannon to disperse the crowd.
Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni on Tuesday called for calm, saying some protesters were using Fakir’s death as a pretext for violence.
“It is imperative that any responsibility for the death of Abderrahim Fakir be determined strictly. The truth must be thoroughly pursued, without prejudice or any concessions,” she said on social media.
“But nothing can justify violence against law enforcement. Those who chose to use this incident as a pretext to trash the city, attack police officers, sow riots, and endanger the safety of citizens who had nothing to do with the riots were not seeking the truth. They were seeking confrontation,” she added.
Bologna’s center-left mayor Matteo Lepore, who had called on people to gather in the city to demand justice for Fakir, told the crowd that Italy did not want “ICE agents or victims like George Floyd.” But he called the violence “blind, unjust and senseless.”
