Demonstration in Bologna after man dies while being handcuffed by police

Bologna Mayor Lepore has organized a demonstration in the city's Piazza Nettuno at 19:00 on Monday to demand the truth about the case of Abderrahim Fakir, a 42-year-old Moroccan man who died on Sunday while being pinned to the ground as police officers tried to handcuff him, AzerNEWS reports, citing ANSA.

In a video recorded by a local person, Fakir can be held shouting "help" and "enough" as the police try to restrain him, before he passes out.

Paramedics were on the scene but it seems that neither they nor the police initially realized when Fakir stopped breathing.

Law enforcement had been called to intervene in Bologna's Pilastro quarter because Fakir was suffering from a "psychiatric crisis" and was disturbing the peace and acting erratically, according to initial findings by investigators, sources said Monday.

He allegedly threatened a man who was parking his car in a garage.

The police initially tried to calm him down but he allegedly behaved aggressively and kicked their car.

The officers used pepper spray on Fakir and then tied his hands and ankles together.

"He was a kind, polite, respectful person," said Barbara Spinelli, a lawyer who was helping Fakir get his residence permit renewed.

"He was a hardworking man who cared about his company and his employees.

"He had been living legally in Italy since he was a child, but he feared being deported".

Bologna police said the footage from the bodycams of the officers involved in the arrest will be made available to investigators.

A new procedure, the 45 bis model, contained in a recent security decree and aimed at giving greater protection to police officers accused of wrongdoing while doing their job is being used for the first time in this case, sources said.

The local health authority has launched an internal inquiry into how the paramedics handled the case.