The armoured vehicle in via Torino
What happened in piazza Alimonda broke all the police regulations regarding the maintenance of public order and is the result of a series of unpardonable mistakes and of an extraordinary level of negligence - to say the least - on the part of the police forces. This is proven by what took place in corso Torino before the events in piazza Alimonda, where an armoured van belonging to the carabinieri was blocked by demonstrators who subsequently set fire to it. The episode is well known and, until recently, it was only documented by a short TG2 video
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and by a series of very brief sequences shot from a considerable distance in Ferrario's video.
link a clip video
The latter analyses this event in a way which I disagree with. It also appears to be the case that, because of a strange coincidence, Placanica was on this vehicle and that he was wounded in the leg during the attack - or so he declares in his first statement to the judiciary.
We have received an amateur video which the judiciary probably also possesses by now and which shows the whole episode. It is thanks to this video that my interpretation diverges from Ferrario's otherwise excellent reconstruction. Analysing this episode is, I believe, important inasmuch as it can be fruitfully compared to what happened in piazza Alimonda shortly afterwards.
This is what one can see in this video:
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an armoured van belonging to the carabinieri attempts to attack a group of demonstrators by reversing towards them at full speed. As a consequence of this charge it finds itself isolated from the other police vehicles and from the other policemen on foot. It is blocked by a rubbish bin in front and by two bins behind. Teargas is fired from within and initially this is enough to frighten off the demonstrators. An isolated carabiniere walks towards the vehicle by himself and is not attacked by demonstrators as his uniform - and the fact that firearms are part of his equipment and that he is ready to use them - is enough to protect him. He moves the bin which is apparently blocking the vehicle. As the vehicle still does not move even though the road in front of it is now clear, he then walks calmly to the driver's side to help him get out, even though the crowd surrounding them continues to throw objects at them. The carabiniere then walks off as smoke appears and the driver continues to try and switch on the engine and head off. Why doesn't the vehicle drive off?
We cannot understand why the vehicle is blocked from the video, but a witness to the whole scene who was on the opposite side of the vehicle - and could thus see what was hidden from the camera's view - can explain the apparent mystery. Two demonstrators open the driver's door, the driver sprays stinging gas at them and the two escape, but then one of them dashes back, rips the keys from under the driver's hands and escapes! At this point the carabinieri thus have to leave the vehicle. The carabiniere on foot probably orders those inside to abandon the vehicle. A few of them manage to escape and join the rest of the police nearby, but the others have to retreat and lock themselves in the vehicle because of the number of objects raining on them from the demonstrators. Another vehicle arrives on the scene and tries, at first unsuccessfully (a scene which one can see in the TG5 video), and then successfully, to protect the carabinieri as they get off the blocked vehicle. The driver gets off as well. One of the carabinieri (Placanica?) is limping and he also joins the large group of policemen nearby. Another group of carabinieri gets off the vehicle quite calmly, whilst a third group gets onto the other vehicle. One of them is attacked by a demonstrator wielding a belt. A slight reaction from the carabiniere is enough to cause the demonstrator's flight. No firearms appear on the scene, even though the carabinieri are surrounded by demonstrators and the vehicle has been set on fire and is full of smoke. The driver, who stays in his place until he receives an order to leave it, is not protected by heavy wiring on the windows like Cavataio in the Defender jeep. Everything works like clockwork. A perfect public order operation. The vehicle is lost, but all the people involved, from the carabinieri to the demonstrators, are unscathed. There is a charge after the event, but this is quite normal, and there is no irreparable tragedy, as is the case in piazza Alimonda.
If Placanica really was on the vehicle in corso Torino, why didn't he shoot then, when the situation was far more dramatic? Also, why doesn't he use his recent experience to escape in piazza Alimonda as well, or, if he is exasperated by the continuous attacks against him, why doesn't he simply shoot into the air to frighten off the demonstrators? Why are those responsible for giving orders, who carried out their job so well in corso Torino, nowhere to be seen in piazza Alimonda? The officers in charge in corso Torino must have been the same who were allegedly giving the orders in piazza Alimonda, as the two places are very near. In one of the photos taken in piazza Alimonda one can see a carabiniere who seems to be gesturing to the group on foot in via Caffa and to their vehicles to move forwards; he was probably attempting to apply the same emergency procedure which had been successful in corso Torino - in a much more complex situation - a short while before the events in piazza Alimonda. Why did no-one obey his order? The attack on the armoured van also lasted much longer than the handful of seconds in which the tragedy in piazza Alimonda unfolded. The tension and the degree of danger for the men blocked in the vehicle in corso Torino must thus have been much greater, as there was really no way they could drive off, whilst Cavataio and Placanica's jeep moved off after Carlo was killed...
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Before the shot: the police charge
Carlo's death
Who was on the jeep
What happens on the jeep
Cavataio's responsibilities
Placanica, the man without a face
Placanica in hospital
Carlo's body and the autopsy
But this is not everything.