ABSTRACT: Taking as his point of departure the accusation of the grave barbarisation of the police forces, in particular the "Celere II" division of Padua, Marco Pannella proposes the demilitarisation of the police forces and the abrogation of military codes and courts. For this purpose he invites all democratic forces to participate in the demonstration called for September 2 and for the liberation of Capt. Margherito, responsible for having denounced the brutal and Fascist methods of Celere II.

(Tempo - September 1976, from "Marco Pannella - Writings and Discourses 1959-80", Gammalibri publishers, January 1982)

Interior Minister Cossiga should inform himself of the number of dead and seriously wounded, of how many bloody clashes, systematic beatings and arrests are strewn on the long, frenetic path of Celere II's activity in Italy and coldly provoked by them on the occasion of political and social demonstrations. The victims number in the hundreds. He should inform himself and report to Parliament in a different way than was used in the debate in the Commission of Internal affairs on the assassination of Magistrate Occorsio when the Communist Deputy Malagugini accused him of having offended Parliament itself with the quality of his report. Or else we will inform him ourselves with all the due political consequences.

We affirm that the Celere II has been and is a school of violence, brutality and Fascism (if the systematic violation of the constitutional rights of citizens suspected of being "Reds" is - and it is - Fascism). We affirm that this Fascism is above all turned back on its very own agents by those who are in command of the group where the disdain for democratic, republican and constitutional values is a constant norm. We affirm that in this division of the police and in this group it is considered treason, depravation and a crime to defend even the simple letter of republican legality and the most elementary civil and human rights of its agents as well as of common citizens.

Let the Prime Minister and the Minister of Defense know that every extra day that Capt. Salvatore Margherito remains in prison, every extra day that passes without the military attorney's office of Padua either freeing him of charges or granting him provisional liberty, will result in an increased mobilisation of democratic forces with the consequences to be attributed to them in their direct government responsibilities.

It is time for the left to stop with the liturgy of protests and lamentations which for years they have used as a cover for their resignation in the face of the aggression and violence that strike at and expel all those in the police forces, the armed forces, the judiciary, and the government administration, who want to serve republican legality in harmony with their own democratic consciences.

It is time to stop accepting as irreversible "faits accomplis" episodes that are part of a single, continuous design, which has won the day for twenty years, of attacks on the democratic life of the institutions. From the case of the Rear-Admiral Falco Accame to that of Judge Marrone, Chief Superintendent De Francesco, and Capt. Margherito, there is no lack of clamorous cases.

Contrary to what Prime Minister Andreotti told Parliament he believed, we Radicals do not love to conduct a priori and ungenerous polemics and struggles. Even though we are in the opposition, we would be delighted to recognise a new style and intention in this government. But the effects of Interior Minister Cossiga's actions on too many recent episodes, from the Maddalena (1) incident, provoked by the men sent there by the well-known chief of police Voria, to the Celere II case, are unfortunately alarming. For this reason we are preparing a swift and hard answer in the streets as well as in Parliament. For this reason we make an appeal to all democratic forces to join the September 2 demonstration in Padua for the liberation of Margherito, for the democratisation and the demilitarisation of the police, and for the abrogation of military codes and courts.

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TRANSLATOR'S NOTES

1) An island off Sardinia used as a NATO naval base which was the site of a demonstration violently repressed by the police.