Press Release

Climate crisis: 'Removal notices, fines and special surveillance against those who demand solutions'

As the planet is convulsed by the climate and environmental crisis and the growing inequalities and discrimination that follow, it is not surprising that the younger generations - on whom the burden of the impending disaster weighs more than any other - are now protesting in increasingly resounding forms.

The response to these protests, stresses a group of Italian associations and NGOs* that are part of the 'In Defence of' network, is based on the application of increasingly intimidating and repressive measures.

After the travel warrants and fines imposed on activists, there is now also the special surveillance of an Ultima Generazione activist, Simone Ficicchia: proposed by the Pavia Police Headquarters, it will be discussed in court tomorrow, Tuesday 10 January.

This measure, governed by the so-called 'anti-mafia code' (Legislative Decree No. 159 of 2011) against those who pose a threat to public safety, is completely unjustified and is an expression of the growing criminalisation of environmental activism.

Associations and NGOs reject the idea that criminalisation, repression and intimidation are the right answers to a rising anxiety. Those who continue to propose bogus solutions in Italy as elsewhere, such as new infrastructures to import and consume more and more fossil fuels, have every interest in not really tackling increasingly urgent problems and in silencing those who call for urgent and effective solutions.

* Amnesty International Italia, A Sud, COSPE, Greenpeace, Giuristi democratici, Terranuova, Un Ponte Per, Yaku.