Anew security decree mandating the preventive detention of potential trouble-makers ahead of demos is not a measure that kills the freedom of assembly, Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said after cabinet approved a sweeping package Thursday.
Preventive detention "is not a measure that kills freedom," Piantedosi told a press conference.
"It exists in many jurisdictions, and there is a relationship with the judicial authority, who is informed that the person will be taken to a police station and held for up to two hours.
"If they then determine that the conditions are not met, they can order release: this has always been the case in our formulation; we know the limits set by the Constitution on the limitation of personal freedom." He explained that the law draws on "a very strong preventive hypothesis, on very important circumstantial evidence regarding the possibility that certain types of crimes could be committed during demonstrations, much like we have seen in recent days." Piantedosi stressed that discussions with President Sergio Mattarella to address the possible Constitutional issues of preventive detention and a criminal shield for police acting in self-defence had been very productive.
