The State Police identifies and refers 18 young people to the judicial authorities
This year too, on the occasion of the anniversary of St. Joseph, numerous popular neighborhoods in Palermo were the backdrop to the drifting of a city tradition, as dangerous as it is prohibited by law: the lighting of blazes by stacking wood, furnishings and furnishings, accumulated in the streets and squares, even in the vicinity of public structures, with serious damage to public and private safety.
This is how, in numerous squares, tradition and folklore have been written but hooliganism and incivility have been read with the further damage of the production of tall and dense columns of toxic fumes.
The anniversary had been addressed in time in the Provincial Committee for Public Order and Security.
On this occasion and in order to prevent and combat conduct linked to the lighting of piles of wood, which are traditionally assembled in advance of March 19th, it was decided to intensify the control activity, preparing accurate safety devices, active already well in advance of the days dedicated to lighting the bonfires.
Numerous branches of the State Police, assisted by personnel from the Carabinieri, the Financial Police, the Municipal Police, the Fire Brigade and RAP personnel, spread across the entire city territory also with personnel in "civilian clothes", have carried out an extensive monitoring activity in the squares and meeting places of all the city neighborhoods in order to identify stacks of wood ready for the subsequent ignition of blazes. Particular attention was also paid to sensitive places such as civilian homes, hospitals, public or private car parks and any other site deemed at risk.
The monitoring also came from above, with the presence of helicopters, respectively of the IV Flight Department of the State Police and of the Palermo - Boccadifalco Carabinieri Helicopter Unit, flying over the areas considered most at risk which ensured the Police operations room of There was a constant flow of images of the monitored phenomenon arriving at the "Control Room", set up for the management of the event, which coordinated the use of the staff on duty in relation to the emerging needs to protect public order and safety.
The neighborhoods where illegal piles ready for lighting were mostly found were: Zen, Brancaccio, Oreto, Zisa – Borgo Nuovo, Piazza S.Anna al Capo, Kalsa and Ballarò.
Dozens of preventative interventions were carried out by the Police Forces which affected numerous pile-ups, avoiding even more serious damage compared to the accidents which had occurred.
Among the "preventive" interventions, we highlight those carried out in Bonagia where the police intervened to remove a quantity of wood stacked in an area not far from the school. The accumulation was located a short distance from a plot of uncultivated land characterized by tall, dense vegetation. The officers verified that, hidden by the branches and protected from prying eyes, much more wood had been stacked, plausibly intended to fuel the blaze.
In the Oreto area, a pile was removed from the surface of a large clearing, not far from a condominium area.
Wood ready to burn and, not far away, wood well hidden inside little-used paths, was found near car parks adjacent to the "Civico" hospital.
Finally, in the Montepellegrino area, not far from the Hotel Institute, a wood dump has been dismantled, again ready for ignition.
On the eve of the holiday, there were some moments of tension in the Kalsa, Ballarò/Albergheria neighborhoods and in Piazza S.Anna al Capo.
In these areas, the Police Forces encountered the most difficult resistance and were forced to deploy in force, even in riot gear; precautions made necessary by the hostility of those who had stacked wood, managed to set fire and were trying to repel the intervention of the police and fire brigade with the constant throwing of stones, bottles, various furnishings and in some cases bins and paper bombs.
In relation to these latest events, the Palermo Police Headquarters, in particular personnel of the Flying Squad, in the days following March 19, started a timely investigation activity, working tirelessly to identify the most troublesome and most active in the "building" of the landfills. , in their ignition and in the attempt to "repel" the police forces.
The investigative findings that emerged were then cross-referenced with the police archives, with the information acquired through the control of the territory and, above all, with the videos of the images shot by helicopters from above and those taken by personnel of the Regional Scientific Police Cabinet from Earth.
For the clashes recorded in Piazza Sant'Anna al Capo, Kalsa and Ballarò/Albergheria, 25 subjects were identified, 18 of whom (14 of whom were minors) were referred to the competent judicial authorities as they were held responsible for the crimes of aggravated damage, dangerous throwing of things, fire, resistance, ignition of fireworks, ignition of paper bombs and firecrackers. The investigative monitoring has returned an alarming picture of the conduct of the suspects, who were found to be organized in an almost military manner, in anticipation of possible clashes with the police: from the images it was possible, in fact, to notice a rigid division of roles among those who were destined to throw stones, bottles and blunt objects, those who had the task of lighting the flames with bottles full of flammable liquid and those who supplied the troublemakers with bottles and stones, transporting them on scooters and supplying the front lines of the clashes.
At the end of the clashes described, 3 policemen and 1 Carabiniere were injured, a State Police car, a Fiat Punto and a Carabinieri car radio, an Iveco Daily of the Guardia di Finanza, three vehicles of the Fire fighters and two municipal police vehicles.
The identification and reporting phase will be followed by the initiation of an appropriate compensation procedure aimed at compensating for the damage to the vehicles and the injuries suffered by the operators in the field.
Further inhibitory police measures will follow in relation to the social danger manifested.
It should be noted that criminal liability for the conduct listed will be defined only after the issuing of any final sentences, in compliance with the constitutional principle of the presumption of innocence.
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