The Italian Spring of 1977

"On March 11, 1977, in the city the Italian Communist Party had governed since 1945, the carabinieri shot an unarmed medical student, Francesco Lorusso, 25, during an autonomist demonstration.  Pitched battles ensued between students and the police, with barricaded streets and Molotov cocktails used on one side, and tear gas and rubber bullets on the other side. Tanks rumbled down Via Rizzoli. French intellectuals Gilles Deleuze, Michel Foucault, Felix Guattari, Jean-Paul Sartre, and others denounced the state’s repressive methods. In September, student groups forced the municipal government to sponsor a three-day, national conference against repression in the city, with free food and use of the sports stadium made available to the 100,000 people who came to Bologna."

I cover the Spring of 1977 throughout Italy in my book Daydream Sunset.  It was a revolutionary moment that freaked out everyone to its political right, including the Italian Communist Party.  The quote above is from the article linked to below.  Make sure you check out some of the links at the bottom of the linked article.....

http://www.iitaly.org/magazine/focus/life-people/article/bologna-1977