Battle of Valle Giulia
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The Battle of Valle Giulia is a clash occurred between Italian left-winged militants and the Italian police at Valle Giulia, in Rome, on March 1, 1968.
Valle Giulia is the seat of the Modern Art Gallery and of the faculty of architecture of the La Sapienza Rome's University. After the faculty had been occupied by the students, on February 29 the police had intervened expelling the occupants and establishing a preside.
On March 1 some 4,000 people moved from Piazza di Spagna to the faculty, with the intent of expel the police from it. They attacked with stones and other objects. Only a few policemen were provided with firearms, but the assault ended with a total of 148 policemen and 478 students wounded. 232 people were arrested. Eight police's vehicle were burned.
The attackers included several people which later acquired fame in Italy: the future singer-songwriter and television director Paolo Pietrangeli (who wrote a song about the episode), later right-winged minister Giuliano Ferrara (who was wounded in the fray), Luca Liguori, Aldo Blandirali and Oreste Scalzone, co-founder of the autonomist group Potere Operaio in 1969.
Writer and intellectual Pier Paolo Pasolini later declared:
| “ | When you clashed with the policemen at Valle Giulia, I sympathized for them. Because policemen are children of the poor. | ” |
Pasolini aimed to stress the fact that most of the faculty's students belonged to the wealthy bourgeoisie of the city.
[edit] See also
- Autonomism movement
