As the ball was raised at the PalaDozza in Bologna for the Euroleague match between Virtus and Maccabi Tel Aviv, guerrilla warfare broke out in the city center: paper bombs, fire hydrants, smoke bombs, rubbish bins and materials from the tram construction site were used to build barricades. Thus ended the protests in Bologna which for a week had given rise to very fierce clashes between the City Government which wanted to postpone or move the match to another area of the city and the Government which together with Minister Matteo Piantedosi decided that the match would still be played. Several thousand people, at least five thousand, gathered in Piazza Maggiore to try to get to PalaDozza, which is more than a kilometer from the city’s main square. The area around the GOR is surrounded by a large red zone which, starting at 13.00, only provides access for residents and ticket or season ticket holders to watch the match. The procession walked in unison towards the entrance of Via Lame, one of the roads leading to PalaDozza where the police were stationed: around 8 pm, before the match started, the demonstrators started throwing paper bombs, the police responded by setting off water cannons. There was no contact or demands, but at that point the situation became very chaotic: the procession was divided into several parts, followed by the police. Guerrilla warfare broke out in various points of the city, with rubbish being burned and used to build barricades along the streets, along with building materials from tram construction sites. Some construction sites, the closest to PalaDozza, have been cleared by the Municipality, but in this period Bologna is full of them: from them many protesters took stones, sticks, barriers, even chemical toilets. Many rubbish bins were burned. Many parked cars were damaged. Police used water cannon in various situations and fired tear gas to disperse demonstrators and prevent them from approaching PalaDozza. In fact, much of downtown Bologna was transformed into an urban guerrilla arena, just as Virtus challenged Maccabi Tel Aviv in a sports hall in a surreal setting and with many empty seats. Also, because access to the match must come in advance, it must also pass the screening determined by the National Police Headquarters and the Prefecture. And it was also an uncomfortable night for the shops (almost all of them were closed) and for the residents of the area: many people, especially students, complained about not being able to return home, because they were not residents of Bologna. A night of guerrilla warfare that, with the calculation of the associated losses, seemed destined to reignite the controversy, with a fierce exchange of accusations especially between the Municipality, which requested to move the match for reasons of public order, and the government.
The injured one
Eight police officers were injured in protests at the center against the Virtus-Maccabi basketball game.
This was reported by the National Police Headquarters: currently they have not been arrested. Fifteen people have been identified and their behavior is being examined by Digos.
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