Italian police clashed with demonstrators in the northern city ​of Bologna on Monday, ANSA news agency reported, during a protest over the death of a Moroccan man who died while being forcibly restrained by police during an attempted arrest.

Abderrahim Fakir, a Moroccan-born entrepreneur who ran a small removals and cleaning ​business, died ‌on Sunday after police were called to deal with a man ⁠behaving aggressively and damaging a vehicle, Italian media said.

Footage of the incident filmed by a resident and widely shared online prompted ‌hundreds of people to protest. Images posted on social media showed demonstrators holding up slogans such as “Justice and truth for Fakir!” and “State murderers”.

According to ANSA, some threw a firecracker near ⁠police buildings in the city. Police reacted by firing tear gas and water cannons.

ANSA also reported that a group of demonstrators sat down in a square holding a photograph ​of Fakir, describing the action as a gesture of nonviolent protest.

“The chants of ‘police murderers’ and ‘the whole world hates you,’ shouted during a demonstration ​in Bologna … are disgraceful,” said Tommaso Foti, the European affairs minister in ‌the government of far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

The video showed Fakir lying face down on the ground while two officers restrained him.

Fakir – who reportedly suffered from heart issues and asthma – repeatedly calls out “aiuto, aiuto, basta” (“help, help, that’s enough”) as the officers sit on him and ambulance workers look on.

After he stops moving, the police bind his ankles together.

Only after a moment or two do they and the ambulance workers check his vital signs, the video shows.

‘Killed in cold blood’

The incident drew varied responses from across the political spectrum, with opposition politicians demanding accountability and the governing coalition ​defending the officers involved.

Prosecutors have opened an investigation into the incident.

Interior Minister Matteo ​Piantedosi said he had “full confidence” the inquiry would establish the ​facts and clarify what happened.

Bologna police said they would give bodycam footage from the officers who intervened to the investigators.

According to media ​reports, officers called emergency services after arriving in the northeastern neighbourhood of Pilastro shortly after noon, when temperatures exceeded 35°C.

Police tried to calm Fakir before using pepper spray and holding him down while trying to handcuff him after he reacted aggressively, according to media ⁠reports.

“They killed my brother in cold blood, I want justice,” Fakir’s sister, Khadija, told reporters as hundreds of people in ⁠Pilastro took to ​the streets on Sunday, with some demonstrators chanting slogans against the police.

Lawyer Barbara Spinelli told the ANSA news agency that she had met Fakir last year, when he applied to renew his permit to stay.

He was “a very kind, well educated, respectful person” who was in Italy legally, but who worried about being expelled.

“I told him: ‘We are in Italy, a democratic country. Here the police respect the rules’,” she said.

“I don’t know how I will ever again manage to tell someone they don’t need to be afraid”, she added.

(FRANCE 24 with Reuters and AFP)