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On the Italian press agency there is an article reporting a draft of a decree of the new government which includes different measures. Among them there is a purported ban on rave parties. The article contains an excerpt stating that the newly defined crime is punishable with a 3 to 6 years sentence plus a fine up to 10000 Euro:

se il fatto è commesso da più di 50 persone allo scopo di organizzare un raduno dal quale possa derivare un pericolo per l'ordine pubblico o la pubblica incolumità o la salute pubblica

Which roughly translates to:

if the fact is committed by more than 50 people in order to organise a gathering from which could derive a danger for the public order or the public safety or the public health

Unfortunately I have only a sentence taken out of context, I could not find the whole text, but as this sentence reads it could turn out in a blanket ban on all public gatherings including protests marches and political assemblies.

To be clear. The media and the press say that the rave parties are the target of the law. But if the law does not clearly define them then those might be just an excuse while the law could be much broader, banning all the gatherings.

Under the current law organisers of a protest march or a political assembly must notify the gathering to the local prefect who might ban it on security grounds, but a violation would not be punished so harshly.

Is the actual full text as broadly defined as it appears now?

FluidCode
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    Depending on who's in charge, "danger for the public order or the public safety or the public health" could include raves due to coronavirus, or it could include raves due to the left-wing culture that may be prevalent there, or it could not include them. Are you asking whether the text is so broad as to allow raves to be banned, or are you asking whether raves will actually be banned? – Reasonably Against Genocide Oct 31 '22 at 16:52
  • @user253751 No. I am asking whether the press is talking about raves to distract the attention, but the law bans a lot more than just raves. – FluidCode Oct 31 '22 at 16:55
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    This isn't a blanket ban, though. It's a blanket possibility for a ban. The point of the question stands: are you asking whether all gatherings with over 50 people could be banned, or will be? – Reasonably Against Genocide Oct 31 '22 at 16:57
  • @user253751 "This isn't a blanket ban," this has still to be proven, I want to see the whole text before believing such statement. – FluidCode Oct 31 '22 at 17:00
  • @user253751 "are you asking whether all gatherings with over 50 people could be banned, or will be" To be precise. The government has a strong majority, I assume that the decree will be easily approved. What I would like to understand is what is the target in the text of the decree. – FluidCode Oct 31 '22 at 17:15
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    Issue It is unlikely that a minister will say "Although we are pretending that this is an anti-rave regulation, actually we are going to use it to prevent left-wing dissent". Someone could probably find if the opposition are saying "this will be used to prevent protests", and we can probably quote the official government justifications for the law. But it may not be possible to speculate on the internal and hidden motivation, if they exist. – James K Oct 31 '22 at 19:53
  • @JamesK I am not asking about internal motivations, I am asking about the actual text of the law, the media reported only few phrases. – FluidCode Oct 31 '22 at 20:16
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    If you want the text, is this it? https://www.governo.it/it/articolo/comunicato-stampa-del-consiglio-dei-ministri-n-2/20814 – James K Oct 31 '22 at 20:24

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Thanks to the link by @JamesK and some more research I can answer my own question. The actual answer is that the decree, if approved as it is, would be a partial ban on some forms of protest.

Unfortunately all the available links are in Italian.

Currently there is an anti squatting law punishing trespass in order to occupy public or private places. The law is applicable only if the act is committed in order to get a profit or another type of advantage.

The new decree modifies the anti squatting law broadening the scope. It does not mention rave parties, but only danger to the public order or safety as a reason to make it applicable. Therefore it does not ban protests or political gathering in places accessible to the public. But it applies to protesters who occupy a building site, like it happened during the construction of the gas pipeline or the high speed rail. It will also apply to protesters who invade the rail network and stop the train services. With some stretching it could also apply to workers who occupy a factory or a building site during a strike or to students who occupy the premises of a university, common cases in Italy.

Update: I see that the news reached the international media, the government still maintains that the new law is meant to target rave parties, but in the law itself there is not a single mention of raves or anything such, it is a lot more generic and broad.

FluidCode
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