Italian prosecutors probe Moroccan man's death under police restraint

Italian prosecutors have opened an investigation after Abderrahim Fakir, a 42-year-old Moroccan man who had lived in Italy since childhood, died in Bologna while being restrained by police.

Human rights campaigners and Italian opposition parties demanded answers on Monday, while government figures defended the police. The incident happened on Sunday after local residents called police because they were concerned about Fakir's erratic behaviour.

A video shared widely on Italian media showed two police officers holding Fakir down as he repeatedly called for help, saying in Italian, "help, help, that's enough." The report said Fakir reportedly had heart issues and asthma. Ambulance workers were present. After Fakir stopped moving, the video showed officers binding his ankles and then, after a short delay, police and ambulance workers checking his vital signs.

Media reports said police had told ambulance personnel that Fakir was having a psychiatric episode. Prosecutors in Bologna have requested the officers' body-camera footage.

Fakir's sister, Khadija, told Corriere della Sera that police should protect people and calm down someone who is agitated. She said: "You can't die like this."

The death prompted a protest in Bologna on Monday. Images posted on social media showed participants holding slogans including "Justice and truth for Fakir!" and "State murderers."

Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi told Rai1 that people who make insulting remarks against police show no trust in law enforcement or the justice system and should look into what happened. Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini also defended the police. Galeazzo Bignami, the head of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy party in the lower house of parliament, praised what he called the officers' professional conduct.

Opposition senator Ilaria Cucchi, whose brother died in custody in 2009, said she was sickened by expressions of solidarity and thanks to police after what she called an inhumane act. Cucchi, a member of the Greens and Left alliance, accused Meloni's coalition government of fostering a climate of violence through policies she described as hateful and racist.

Francesco Boccia, the Democratic Party leader in the Senate, told Repubblica that if the right wanted to import what he called the ICE model, Italy was the wrong country for it. The incident has also been compared with the murder of George Floyd in the United States and with tactics used by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement under President Donald Trump.

Lawyer Barbara Spinelli told ANSA that she had met Fakir last year when he applied to renew his residence permit. She said he was in Italy legally, described him as kind and respectful, and said he had worried about being expelled.