Eviciton of Bencivenga squat in Rome and arrests of anarchists all around Italy
Starting around 5 AM on Tuesday, June 16, another crackdown on the anarchist movement took place in Rome and elsewhere, resulting in seven arrest warrants for comrades, several suspects released, searches conducted throughout Italy, and the eviction of the Bencivenga squat in Rome.
Today, five people are imprisoned for accusations of conspiracy to terrorist purposes (art. 270 bis), two are under house arrest, two comrades were detained for “terrorism of the word” (a crime introduced in the last security decree, art. 270 quinquies), dozens of raids have been carried out throughout Italy, and we cannot ignore the eviction of Bencivenga, a space occupied for 25 years. The conspiracy is said to be related to sabotage carried out during the devastation of the Milan and Cortina areas, also known as the Winter Olympics, in February 2026.
We summarise and spread various statements:
While the defamation and disinformation spread by the media against anarchists is nothing new, we cannot help but notice the level reached this time by the regime’s propaganda (particularly by the infamous media channel TG1, which is especially grotesque: “They met in a country house like the Mafia, they were planning a strategy of tension, they intended to commit acts of violence, anarchist terrorism”… If we remind these gentlemen that for anarchists the Mafia is as much an enemy as authority, and that the “strategy of tension” in this country was implemented by the State, it is not difficult to identify a very precise intention behind these dirty words: the one that led, in 2015, to transforming the National Anti-Mafia Directorate (DNA) into the National Anti-Mafia and Anti-Terrorism Directorate (DNAA).
With the result that the same absolute demonization and treatment, previously reserved for real or alleged mafiosos (and also inflicted for decades on revolutionary communists), is now applied to anarchists. The aggravating factor for the revolutionaries is that they don’t practice violence for reasons of profit or power, but as a kind of end in itself, for the sheer pleasure of destruction or some unknown dark death drive.
As if thousands of people hadn’t opposed the Winter Olympics for very clear reasons: the presence of the Israeli military (this time out of uniform), the escort provided by ICE’s murderous gangs, the devastation of the Alpine environment in the name of the usual “great event”… and as if these motivations hadn’t been unequivocally stated in the communiqué following the sabotage. As for the usual accusation of “terrorism”, we believe that Gaza has sufficiently clarified the matter—and that there can be no more doubt about who is spreading terror.
In times of war, an old poet once said, the first casualty is truth
While Alfredo Cospito remains in prison 41-bis as a kind of scapegoat for the “sins” of the entire anarchist movement, the State goes so far as to criminalize the very intention of doing something to free him from torture. While we are still reeling from the deaths of Sara and Sandro, the State is trying to use them against us.
There are those who have seen their freedom snatched away, others who have seen the police invade their spaces, take away their loved ones, and expel them from their homes. But there are also all those who, even if they weren’t directly involved on June 16th, will suffer the consequences in one way or another.
There are those who have seen their freedom snatched away, others who have seen the police invade their spaces, take away their loved ones, and expel them from their homes. But there are also all those who, even if they weren’t directly involved on June 16th, will suffer the consequences in one way or another.
We’re referring to all those who took to the streets alongside Alfredo Cospito, those who encouraged solidarity with the Palestinian resistance and against imperialist wars, those who seethe with rage for their imprisoned comrades. But ultimately, we’re also referring to those for whom the experience of the partisan resistance represents a significant chapter in the history of Italy. And we know that these are just some of the circumstances in which anyone could have found themselves physically alongside those arrested, or morally close to them.
Every comrade in the hands of the state, every space lost, leaves a void that is increasingly difficult to fill. Every opportunity the state has to implement and experiment with new repressive codes represents the closing of another margin of freedom, without which it will be more difficult to oppose the current state of affairs.
We don’t know if, at the end of this repressive operation, the judges will declare the accused guilty or innocent. What is certain is that, if we base our analysis on the last 20 years of investigations against anarchists or subversives in general, prosecutors have found very few individuals “guilty”. On the other hand, thanks to preventive measures, prisons have confined hundreds of activists within their walls for decades.
We believe it is essential to support the affected anarchists.
We believe it is essential to break the isolation, indifference, and fear that repression seeks to instill.
For freedom, for solidarity, for the overthrow of this system.
We invite everyone to support the detained person financially, politically, and morally, and to express their solidarity with those affected by this operation.
We don’t know if those arrested and investigated have committed the acts they are accused of. We can only repeat what we have written many times in similar cases: if they are “innocent,” they have our full solidarity; if they are “guilty,” they have it even more.
Solidarity with Nico, Bibi, Micol, Arnau, Stefano, Giulia, Luna, Pietro, and Tony!
We are publishing the current known addresses where our imprisoned comrades are being held:
Nico Aurigemma
Arnau Vallet Casadevall
Stefano Marri
Regina Coeli, via della Lungara 29, 00165, Roma
Micol Marino
C.C. Rebibbia femminile, via Bartolo Longo, 92 00156 Roma
Pietro Rosetti
C.C.di Forlì, via della Rocca 4, 47121, Forlì
Francesco Benedetti
C.C.Lorusso e Cotugno, via Maria Adelaide Aglietta 35, 10151, Torino
Our solidarity goes out to them.
With rage and love, for anarchy. ★
Statement from the actions in February:
Fire at the Olympics! No travel today!
On the night of February 13th, at various points and railway junctions, we set fire to and damaged cables along the tracks, effectively blocking several high-speed lines.
These actions are our contribution to the warm welcome and good wishes for this edition of the Winter Olympic Games.
We participated in the massive road and port blockades during the months of mobilization for Palestine; we invaded stations and attacked the police whenever possible. But today we have chosen to act under the moonlight, in a small group brought together by affinity and the desire to be consistent with the slogans we have been shouting in recent months: let’s block everything!
Because we believe that, in addition to participating in large-scale mobilizations and the conflict they can generate, it is necessary to spread autonomous action, so as not to let them be defused, recuperated, and directed by the professionals of “militant” politics.
Those in power is preparing for war, and we, anarchists, revolutionaries, and conscious individuals, would like to do the same. The railway infrastructure is a key hub for the mobility of military forces and materials, and the agreement between RFI and Leonardo, aimed at implementing military logistics on the peninsula, is the clearest example of this. Attacking RFI is therefore a concrete act of antimilitarism and a gesture of solidarity with all those who today suffer the atrocities of war and colonialism.
The Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics are no exception: rivers of money fueling a real estate speculation that is only too happy to arm rivers of concrete to build disposable facilities and repurpose entire working-class neighborhoods. A grand business that, behind the glossy and prestigious image of a major sporting event, hides hectares of larch forests razed to make way for ski slopes and mountains irreversibly disfigured by the associated ski lifts.
This action ultimately expresses our anger at the presence at the Games of ICE agents, the anti-immigrant squads now sadly infamous for murders, roundups, abuse, and violence perpetrated against undesirables and domestic dissidents in the United States. This reminds us that every police force and every fascist group is there to be used against its own population when “reasons of state” require it.
Only a few ingredients are needed to act against the world of exploitation, oppression, and devastation: a little study, caution, and determination in equal measure, a few accomplices, a few liters of fuel… and anything is possible! Good luck!
Solidarity with anarchist prisoners around the world!
Solidarity with Juan, Stecco, Anna, Alfredo, Tonio, Ghespe, Dayvid, the comrades repressed in Operation Ipogeo, and the Palestinian prisoners!
For Anarchy!
