On 31st January 2022 the court of Turin delivered the sentence, concluding the first grade of the trial concerning the demo of 9th February 2019, two days after the eviction of Asilo in via Alessandria and the start of operation Scintilla, which led to the arrest of 6 comrades, while another comrade managed to escape the claws of the State and be on the run for over a year.
The eviction marked the closure of a place of meeting, organization and above all struggle, which over the years had defied a normality of repression, control and war on the poor, by opposing evictions, raids, repatriation centres and jails.
The intention of the operation, which accused the comrades of fighting against deportation centres, was to repress and put an end to the struggles that had tried to undermine and destroy administrative detention over the previous years. A struggle that is still taking many of us along the same road, that of the demolition of the deportation system. Today several comrades are on trial in Turin following the operation.
The demo of 9th February was an immediate response, an important moment of determination and anger which many of us felt and wanted to express in the streets of the city. A voice raised to reconfirm solidarity with those in struggle and are repressed, as well as an occasion not to passively abandon oneself to an increasingly oppressive daily life. After that day many people were put under investigation and repressed: 14 arrests in total (11 of which on the same day and others over the following 3 months) and various repressive measures against those who took part in the demo, from daily signing at police stations to mandatory residence and expulsion orders.
The charges that stand out are those of aggravated resistance, injuring public officials and damage. Out of 28 people on trial, 18 were acquitted and 10 were sentenced: the higher sentences were one year and 8 months,1 year and 4 months, 1 year and 1 month and finally 1 year. At the same time the court in Turin ordered compensation of over 7,000 euros to be paid to Amiat, a company that runs waste disposal, along with about 5,000 euros’ legal fees for the same company.
Today we want to express our anger at these sentences and reconfirm our solidarity with those on trial following operation Scintilla and the anarchists prisoners of the State.
