People gather near the scene where Abderrahim Fakir, a Moroccan-born entrepreneur who ran a small moving and cleaning business, died on Sunday while being held to the ground by police trying to arrest him, in Bologna, Italy on Jul 19, 2026. (Photo: Reuters/Michele Lapini)
20 Jul 2026 07:14PM
(Updated: 20 Jul 2026 07:18PM)
ROME: A man in the northern Italian city of Bologna died while being held to the ground by police trying to arrest him, in an incident captured on video that has sparked street protests and which prosecutors are investigating.Abderrahim Fakir, a Moroccan-born entrepreneur who ran a small removals and cleaning business, died on Sunday (Jul 19) after police were called to deal with a man behaving aggressively and damaging a vehicle, Italian media said.Footage of the incident filmed by a resident and widely shared online prompted hundreds of people to protest and drew responses from across the political spectrum, with opposition politicians demanding accountability and the governing coalition defending the officers involved.According to the local daily Il Resto del Carlino, demonstrators chanted anti-police slogans and knelt with raised fists, adopting a gesture associated with the Black Lives Matter movement that emerged in the United States following the 2020 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.The footage showed Fakir lying face down on the ground while two officers restrained him. He can be heard repeatedly calling for help and struggling for breath before his movements gradually stop.Bologna prosecutors and Italy's Interior Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Bologna police said they would give bodycam footage from the officers who intervened to the investigators.
