Government issues security decree after clashes, Crosetto-Salvini rift

The Council of Ministers met on Tuesday, October 20, at Palazzo Chigi under the chairmanship of Giorgia Meloni, approving a decree-law on public security and combating juvenile crime, according to the official government statement.

The measure introduces several provisions. Preventive detention is extended to crowded places as well. Minors become immediately liable to prosecution for certain offences. Milan will receive 500 additional military personnel. A new offence is also created, that of “organized violence at public demonstrations”. Added to this, according to the roundup by Today.it, is ex officio prosecution even for minor injuries inflicted on officers, a change that broadens the possibility of initiating criminal proceedings without waiting for a complaint from the injured party.

Not everything envisaged in the draft decree made it through. The proposal to grant military personnel engaged in Operation Strade Sicure judicial police powers – equivalent, that is, to those of law enforcement in identifying and detaining people – was dropped. On this point a rift emerged between ministers Guido Crosetto and Matteo Salvini, which the government statement and the press roundup note without providing details.

The decree comes after weeks in which street demonstrations in various Italian cities have produced clashes, to which the government responds with a regulatory framework combining tougher criminal penalties and a stronger military presence in the most critical areas, Milan foremost among them. It remains to be seen how the new rules on preventive detention extended to crowded places will be applied in upcoming demonstrations, and whether the decision to forgo judicial police powers for the military will return as an issue in future measures.