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Protesters demanding justice for Abderrahim Fakir marching in Pilastro, Bologna, on 26 July 2026. Photograph by Guido Calamosca\/LaPresse\/Alamy<\/p>\nProtesters demanding justice for Abderrahim Fakir marching in Pilastro, Bologna, on 26 July 2026. Photograph by Guido Calamosca\/LaPresse\/Alamy<\/p>\n
Relatives of Abderrahim Fakir, who died after being restrained, warn that political backing for officers risks undermining the inquiry<\/p>\n
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It\u2019s a warm Sunday evening in the residential neighbourhood of Pilastro in Bologna, Italy, and a group is gathering at Via Italo Svevo. A banner, painted in red and black, lies at their feet: \u201cTruth and justice for Fakir \u2014 we are all Fakir.\u201d On a nearby post, the flags of Palestine<\/a>, Morocco<\/a> and Italy<\/a> hang together.<\/p>\n The vigil is taking place a week after 42-year-old Abderrahim Fakir died here on 19 July while being subdued by police. A video published on social media<\/a> shows Fakir \u2014 a Moroccan-born resident of Bologna educated in Italy \u2014 held down on the ground by two police officers and a third person at his feet. He screams for help before groaning and falling silent.\u00a0<\/p>\n Fakir\u2019s death is currently under investigation by Bologna prosecutors. But as his family awaits more information and certainty, their lawyer, Fabio Anselmo, says that the political climate is already hindering a transparent investigation.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBased on the autopsy results, but also on the video showing the end of Fakir\u2019s life, it seems clear that there is a violent mechanism of compression and asphyxiation,\u201d Anselmo said. \u201cBut what kind of atmosphere are the experts working in when, every other day, ministers and police chiefs are going to Bologna to show solidarity with the officers?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n In a crowdfunding campaign <\/a>for legal fees set up by the family, Fakir\u2019s niece, Yossra, wrote that their \u201conly wish is for the circumstances surrounding what happened to be fully clarified, respectfully and through all the investigations and assessments that the judicial authority considers necessary\u201d. More than \u20ac25,000 has already been raised.<\/p>\n Fakir was a legal resident in Italy. His immigration lawyer, Barbara Spinelli, confirmed to Hyphen that he had completed his schooling in Italy and was running a business in Bologna specialising in carpentry, welding and metalwork. But a criminal record from his early 20s \u2014 drug-dealing offences and the violation of a house arrest order \u2014 had complicated his residency situation. He had applied for special protection, which can be granted in Italy for foreign residents who have been integrated into the country for a long time. In the months leading up to his death, Spinelli says, he was increasingly anxious about his immigration status.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cUnfortunately, this is the game of the goose and the fate of many foreigners with criminal records,\u201d she said in an interview with Hyphen.\u00a0<\/p>\n Before he died, Spinelli remembered that Fakir \u201cfelt this deep anguish and fear\u201d that he would be deported, in part because of the recent EU pact<\/a> on migration and asylum.<\/p>\n \u201cI reassured him, and I even made a joke about it, to ease his deep anxiety,\u201d Spinelli said. \u201cThen to learn that he had died right in the hands of the police whom he feared would deport him has killed me as well.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n At the protest on 26 July, an estimated 2,000 people<\/a> marched peacefully through the Pilastro neighborhood, calling for justice and condemning what one speaker called \u201ctorture documented on video\u201d. One woman in a hijab watching the start of the protest did not wish to discuss Fakir\u2019s death with reporters. \u201cThe pain is too great and we\u2019ve talked too much. We want to see action,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Before the march began, protesters took a moment of silence and knelt in the square, fists held high, a gesture referencing George Floyd<\/a> \u2014 a 46-year-old Black American man whose murder by a police officer sparked massive protests across the globe against systemic racism and police brutality.\u00a0<\/p>\n What is known about the events that led to Fakir\u2019s death has been pieced together from police and health authority official reports and witness videos.<\/p>\n Police were dispatched to Pilastro on 19 July after residents reported \u201ca person on a rampage,\u201d according to the Bologna police department. In a call<\/a> to the 118 emergency health hotline, a caller described a \u201cforeigner screaming and kicking all of the garage doors, yelling for help and that they want to kill him\u201d. A statement <\/a>from the Italian Red Cross said its volunteers \u201cintervened immediately after the police officers\u2019 intervention\u201d and carried out CPR until a medical vehicle arrived when they confirmed Fakir\u2019s death.<\/p>\n According to autopsy results<\/a> published by Italian media late last week, the presence of fresh blood in Fakir\u2019s lungs is consistent with compression.<\/p>\n But a lawyer representing the police involved in the incident told Hyphen that, based on the footage he reviewed, he believes no violence was committed by the officers.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cFrom the combination of all these images, I reach an unambiguous conclusion that points toward completely excluding any act of violence and chest compression,\u201d Gabriele Bordoni said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no moment in which the police officers are on top of him with any part of their bodies, holding him pinned to the ground or pressing him to the ground in a way that would obstruct or make it difficult for him to breathe.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Italy\u2019s strict \u2014 and often controversial \u2014 immigration laws have been criticised<\/a> by human rights groups.\u00a0 Legislation passed in 2002 requires all immigrants to have fingerprints<\/a> taken when they apply for or receive residency documents, and unlike many European countries, children born or raised in Italy to non-Italian parents are not automatically granted citizenship but have to apply for it at the age of 18.<\/p>\n The day after Fakir\u2019s death, longstanding tensions over these policies boiled over as protesters met in Bologna\u2019s historic centre for an event Mayor Matteo Lepore described as a \u201cmoment of gathering and participation<\/a>\u201d. The demonstration eventually led to violent skirmishes with the police. In a press release, the Bologna police department indicated that 64 officers had been injured.\u00a0<\/p>\n As tensions rise, senior Italian politicians have weighed in. In an interview with Italian TV station La7, minister of the interior Matteo Piantedosi<\/a>, who oversees the Italian police, claimed: \u201cPolice officers approached with the sensitivity, gentleness and consideration that the complexity of the case required in these circumstances and, after that, they activated the necessary containment when things appeared to deteriorate.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/02-fakir-abderrahim-bologna.jpg\")
A demonstrator holds an image of Abderrahim Fakir, with the words \u201ckilled by the police\u201d printed on it, during a protest in Naples on 21 July 2026. Photograph by Iso Ekle\/Anadolu\/Getty Images<\/p>\n