The Price of Dissent

Tear gas, water cannons, and burning police vehicles. Between December 2025 and January 2026, Turin became the stage for one of Italy’s most intense clashes between security forces and protesters, centered on the eviction of Askatasuna — a social center with nearly thirty years of history as a hub for political dissent and international solidarity in the Vanchiglia neighborhood.

The first confrontation erupted on December 20, 2025, when police forcibly intervened during a demonstration against the eviction. Witnesses and human rights groups described the response as disproportionate and violent, with protesters forcibly dragged away in scenes that shocked many observers.

The second, far more intense episode unfolded on January 31, 2026. Tens of thousands of people gathered from across Italy and abroad, with a significant contingent arriving from France. The morning passed peacefully. But by late afternoon, a group of masked demonstrators broke away from the main march, setting fire to a police vehicle and engaging in prolonged clashes lasting over two hours. Once again, civil rights groups and eyewitnesses condemned the police response as excessive, pointing to indiscriminate use of batons and tear gas against protesters, including those who had taken no part in the violence.

Three people were arrested. A judge described the scenes as “a true urban guerrilla, with an impressive level of violence and devastation.” All three were later released under alternative measures — triggering a sharp political backlash from the ruling right.

The Askatasuna eviction, however, is more than a public order issue. Since the day of the eviction, the Vanchiglia neighborhood has been effectively militarized, with police checkpoints, road closures, and residents required to show ID just to access their own street.

What is happening in Turin is not an accident. It is policy. Under the Meloni government, the criminalization of dissent has become a deliberate instrument of power — spaces of resistance shut down, protests met with force, activists prosecuted. Askatasuna is not an isolated case but a signal: in today’s Italy, the right to oppose, to organize, to exist outside the mainstream is increasingly treated not as a freedom to be protected, but as a threat to be eliminated.