Italy cracks down on protests, squatters and cannabis

By Alvise Armellini

ROME (Reuters) -Italy's upper house of parliament on Wednesday gave final approval to a wide-ranging security decree that targets public protests, pickpockets and squatters, and outlaws so-called "legal" cannabis. 

The measures, spearheaded by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's right-wing coalition government, have been criticised by opposition groups and civil rights campaigners as unduly repressive.

The Senate passed the decree with a 109-69 vote, with one abstention, after a stormy session that was temporarily suspended when opposition lawmakers staged a protest on the floor of the chamber, shouting "shame, shame". 

"We challenge a government that wants to imprison children, students who strike and protesters outside factories," Francesco Boccia, the lead senator for the centre-left Democratic Party, told reporters.

The decree criminalises the blocking of roads and the defacing of public property, thus targeting anti-climate change protesters who in Italy have often disrupted traffic or thrown paint at monuments.

It introduces new crimes against revolts in prison and migrant detention centres, punishing even acts of passive resistance, and against people who occupy private property, such as social housing.

It bans the trade of "cannabis light", or hemp, which unlike marijuana has no mind-altering qualities, infuriating local entrepreneurs who say the move will cost thousands of jobs and imperil millions of euros of investments.  

The bill scraps an exemption from prison detention for convicted pregnant women or those with babies, as backers say the rule was exploited by female members of the Roma ethnic minority to escape punishment for serial pickpocketing. 

"It's useless to say that this decree is inhumane, because women who have children in order to steal are not worthy of having them," said Gianni Berrino, a senator from Meloni's Brothers of Italy party. 

The decree also introduces tougher sanctions for protesters who clash with police, causing them injuries, and offers legal cover of up to 10,000 euros ($11,385) for army or police officers who are put under investigation or sent to trial. 

Meloni's coalition won elections decisively in September 2022 and is still riding high in polls after promising to get tough on law and order.

It has introduced dozens of new crimes, often reacting to public outrage about specific issues, but critics say this is not necessarily effective and aggravates already serious prison overcrowding. 

"We want a state where citizens live peacefully and whoever breaks (things) pays, whoever makes a mistake pays, and it is right that they pay with prison," Berrino said during the Senate debate.

($1 = 0.8783 euros)

(Reporting by Alvise ArmelliniEditing by Keith Weir)