ABSTRACT: A description of the climate and political framework of Italy in the mid-seventies, when "government, institutions and parties" appeared impotent against left-wing and right-wing terrorism. In 1975 the so-called Reale Act was passed, which extended the police forces' powers in terms of the use of fireweapons. The consequences of this law were devastating: hundreds of people died, without any appreciable result in the "repression of disorder". The radical party in 1977 gathered 700.000 signatures for a referendum to repeal that law. In 1978 the referendum was held, and seven and a half million Italians voted for its repeal. The radicals paid their rigorous defense of civil rights with isolation.

(1994 - IL QUOTIDIANO RADICALE, 5 November 1993)

In the mid-seventies, the country experienced a restless period, filled with fears about the possible collapse of the institutions. Terrorism seemed invincible in its cultural premises and in its objectives. The government, the institutions and the parties all seemed to be impotent, or perhaps they took advantage of the situation for their own purposes. They appealed to the public opinion and to the fear of its reactions in the face of an increasing lack of security.

Thus, in 1975 a bill was passed, which took the name of the then Justice Minister Oronzo Reale, which extended the police forces' powers regarding the use of firearms also during political events, guaranteeing them an almost complete judicial impunity. In a few years' time, hundreds of citizens were killed following this law, both among the civilians and among the police forces themselves who often were the victims of an improper and uncontrolled use of the firearms. We all remember the case of Cosimo Cirillo, who died on 12 February 1976 in Milan, killed by the fire of the police agents. Cirillo was unarmed. Some wrote that the police forces had been given a "license to kill". At any rate, as far as the repression of the unrest was concerned, the results were scarce or nil. The radicals defied the impopularity and opposed the law from the very beginning. In 1977, the radical party collected 700.000 signatures to call a referendum with the purpose of repealing the law. But that same summer, the access of the

then Communist Party into the cabinet of the Prime Minister Andreotti overturned the political relations, and the parties were able to vote for amendments that worsened the law. This time, however, four radical MPs were sitting in Parliament. The opposition was memorable in terms of force and effectiveness. During the campaign to call the referendum, the Communist Party fiercely attacked the radicals pressing charges and writing slanderous articles. Despite this, as many as seven and a half million citizens voted in favour of abrogating the unfair law.

The radical party had been alone in defending truly civil libertarian positions. But the effects were that they were labeled as the advocates of a positions of excessive concern for civil rights that was supposedly the ante-chamber and the real responsible of terrorism and subversion. It was a blow dealt against the institutions, the law, human and civil rights, which the country is still suffering the consequences of. The current crisis of the justice system was tragically foreshadowed by those events.