Springtime in Turin

· At the end of March, a demo against the war in Iraq ends up with harsh police attacks. In the very middle of the town, policemen run over a group of demonstrators, formed mainly by immigrant women and children, and beat whoever tries to intervene in their defence. Soon after, in Porta Palazzo, the Turin area where most immigrants live, rubbish skips on fire welcome the arrival of police who are searching other demonstrators in order to hit them. Imam Boutcha expects police to make their apologies and, at the same time, convinces the immigrants living in the area not to participate to protest marches, which he claims are too dangerous for them: from this moment on he will be their only representative during the protests. In the following week, Italians and immigrants together burn the Italian flag and the ones of other countries engaged in the war. The press, in reporting the news, also publishes a condemnation pronounced by another imam, concerned about the consequences that the act could bring in the relations between the different nationalities who are in Turin. 

· In April and May, small episodes of resistance in the streets against deportations that had already occurred in the past years, come back once again. In Piazza Vittorio Veneto area, on two occasions, some North African men throw bricks against police who is stopping their compatriots. In the crowded Porta Palazzo area, meantime, the guards who stop and search people often find themselves surrounded by angry multicoloured crowds and must shot in the air to free themselves from the impasse.

· At the beginning of May, the owner of a perfume shop in San Salvario area claims that he wants to sell his shop: he says to the journalists that the area is so full with foreigner criminals that no one among his former customers dare visiting the shop. A few local politicians and the association of shoppers offer their solidarity to him, and the major promises ‘to clear the area off’. Roundups and a manhunt are therefore carried out during the following months. The episode of the perfume shopper is actually just a pretext to inaugurate a new phase of the Home Secretary’s operations (called, according to the occasions, High Impact, Free Streets, Clean Roads) that he introduces to strike the so-called ‘clandestine’ (immigrants without papers) with the excuse of fighting criminality. Since that day, the operation Clean Roads had already led to the arrest of 627 people, the deportation of 715 ‘clandestine’ and the forced expulsion of 334 of them in Turin only. The roundups occurred in May have been quite harsh and intentionally spectacular, with entire areas occupied by police, and beating and chases in the middle of the streets. The mayor himself has several times turned out on the spot to comfort the policemen, worn out by the efforts. Meantime, the disappointed perfume shopper says to the journalist that only Black and Chinese people want to buy his prestigious shop, and he also accuses the Arabs living in the area of blocking the entrance of the shop with nails. The roundups, which will continue for a few months more, empty the town of most of its unwanted inhabitants, while Corso Brunelleschi detention camp (CPT) is filled up.

· At the end of May, five anarchists try to prevent a roundup in San Salvario area by t and are arrested along with the immigrants. A small crowd witnesses the episode, some are indifferent, some satisfied, some frightened, but no one intervenes. A few immigrants among the thirty stopped by the police are deported, whereas the five anarchists are locked up in Le Vallette prison. After a few days, the judge orders their release till the trial. The Lega Nord party, indignant at the judge’s laxity, organises a gathering in the area. MP Mauro Borghezio of Lega Nord and a small number of militants take part in the initiative, well protected by police. On the other side of the road, about fifty people disturb the events teasing and shouting slogans. In the same afternoon, unknown people enter the site of Torino cronaca, the newspaper that has been promoting racist propaganda for years: a few computers are damaged and many writings are left on the walls.

· In June, great uproar is caused by the arrest of a few ‘carabinieri’ cops who usually patrolled San Salvario area. They are accused of consuming and selling drugs and of blackmailing the mother of a drug addict. The investigations will be soon covered up; as a matter of fact, however, the ‘carabinieri’ cops have been robbing immigrants, blackmailing supposed drug dealers and keeping for themselves illegal drugs previously seized for years in the streets of some Turin areas.

 A few San Salvario inhabitants