Prisoners' rights group slams 'penal shield' for cops

(ANSA) - ROME, JAN 14 - Italy's main prisoners' rights group on Tuesday slammed government plans to introduce a "penal shield" for police amid violent protests against the police force across Italy after Milan Carabinieri were accused of ramming a scooter in a chase and killing a 19-year-old Egyptian-Italian man.
    Critics of the police, who deny the charges, have linked it to previous cases of brutality and heavy handed policing such as the "Mexican butchery" at the 2001 Genoa G7 summit and the 2009 fatal beating of a Roman surveyor, Stefano Cucchi.
    The new penal shield would be aimed at stopping officers policing violent protests from being charged with criminal conduct.
    "The vast majority of police officers do not need criminal shields because they behave in a manner consistent with the law," said the chair of penal human rights group Antigone, Patrizio Gonnella.
    "How would one distinguish between those who have been unjustly accused and those who are perpetrators of violence? "All the legislative tools are already present today in the penal code and in the consolidated police law, to deal with all the possible crimes that are committed in the streets.
    "Any form of criminal protection or immunity of any profession is unjustified. This gives a horrible message of legitimization of abuses through legal protection.
    Some of the more violent street protests against police officers over the death of Ramy Elgaml have been described by Premier Giorgia Meloni as "ignoble". (ANSA).