Editing Francesco Cossiga (section)

==Minister of the Interior==
On 12 February 1976, Cossiga was appointed [[Italian Minister of the Interior|Minister of the Interior]], by Prime Minister Moro. During his term he re-structured the [[Italian police]], [[Protezione Civile|civil protection]] and [[secret services]]. Cossiga has been often described as a [[strongman (politics)|strongman]] and labeled "iron minister",<ref name="prima una vittima"/> for repressing public protests.<ref>[https://eftorsello.wordpress.com/2008/11/08/cossiga-a-manganelli-lasciare-che-gli-studenti-facciano-danni-poi-una-dura-repressione/ Cossiga a Manganelli: «Lasciare che gli studenti facciano danni, poi una dura repressione»]</ref><ref>[http://www.infoaut.org/index.php/blog/segnalazioni/item/11776-terrorizzare-e-reprimere-il-terrorismo-come-strumento-repressivo-in-perenne-estensione-terza-parte Terrorizzare e reprimere. Il terrorismo come strumento repressivo in perenne estensione] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170425024924/http://www.infoaut.org/index.php/blog/segnalazioni/item/11776-terrorizzare-e-reprimere-il-terrorismo-come-strumento-repressivo-in-perenne-estensione-terza-parte |date=25 April 2017 }}</ref> Moreover, during his tenure his surname was often stylized as "Ko[[File:Sig runes.svg|11px]]iga", using the ''[[Schutzstaffel|SS]]'' symbol.<ref>[http://www.ilsole24ore.com/art/notizie/2010-08-18/kossiga-picconatore-vita-anomalo-080403.shtml?uuid=AYcdHiHC Da Kossiga con la K a picconatore: vita del Dc più anomalo]</ref>

===1977 protests and riots===
{{main|Movement of 1977}}
[[File:Bologna riots in 1977.jpg|thumb|left|180px|[[Armoured personnel carrier|Armored vehicle]] in the university area of [[Bologna]].]]
In 1977 the city of [[Bologna]] was the scene of violent street clashes. In particular, on 11 March a militant of the far-left organization ''[[Lotta Continua]]'', [[Francesco Lorusso]], was killed by a gunshot to the back (probably fired by a policeman), when police dispersed protesters against a mass meeting of [[Communion and Liberation]], which was being held that morning at [[University of Bologna|the university]]. This event served as a detonator for a long series of clashes with [[Polizia di Stato|security forces]] for two days, which affected the entire city of Bologna.<ref>Gino Moliterno, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=6vVS_Y1mcIEC&pg=PA800 Encyclopedia of contemporary Italian culture]'' (annotated), CRC Press, 2000, {{ISBN|978-0-415-14584-8}}, p 800</ref> Cossiga sent [[Armoured personnel carrier| armoured vehicle]]s into the university area and other hot spots of the city to quell what he perceived as [[guerrilla warfare]]. Clashes with the police caused numerous casualties among people who got caught up in the riots, including uninvolved locals. No old leftist party, except the Youth Socialist Federation, led by local secretary Emilio Lonardo, participated at the funeral of the student Lorusso, showing the dramatic split between the movement and the historical left parties.

[[Turin]] was also the scene of bloody clashes and attacks. On 1 October 1977, after a procession had started with an attack on the headquarters of the [[Italian Social Movement]] (MSI), a group of militants of ''Lotta Continua'' reached a downtown bar, ''L'angelo azzurro'' (The Blue Angel), frequented by young right-wing activists. They threw two [[Molotov cocktail]]s, and Roberto Crescenzio, a totally apolitical student, died of burns. The perpetrators of the murder were never identified. ''Lotta Continua'' leader Silvio Viale called it a "tragic accident".

Another innocent victim of the riots of that year was [[Death of Giorgiana Masi|Giorgiana Masi]], who was killed in [[Rome]] by a gunshot during an event organized by the [[Radical Party (Italy)|Radical Party]] to celebrate the third anniversary of the victory in the referendum on divorce. As the perpetrators of the murder remained unknown, the movement attributed the responsibility of the crime to police officers in plain clothes, who were immortalized at that time dressed in clothing of the style of young people of the movement.

===Kidnapping of Aldo Moro===
{{main|Kidnapping of Aldo Moro}}
[[File:Moro Cossiga.jpg|thumb|left|220px|Cossiga with [[Aldo Moro]].]]
Cossiga was in office at the time of the [[Kidnapping of Aldo Moro|kidnapping]] and murder of the Christian Democratic leader [[Aldo Moro]] by the [[Marxist-Leninist]] extreme-left terrorist group [[Red Brigades]]. On the morning of 16 March 1978, the day on which the new cabinet led by [[Giulio Andreotti]] was supposed to have undergone a [[confidence and supply|confidence]] vote in the [[Italian Parliament]], the car of Moro, former prime minister and then president of DC, was assaulted by a group of Red Brigades [[terrorists]] in Via Fani in [[Rome]]. Firing automatic weapons, the terrorists killed Moro's bodyguards, (two [[Carabinieri]] in Moro's car and three [[Italian police|policemen]] in the following car) and kidnapped him.

Cossiga formed immediately two "crisis committees". The first one was a technical-operational-political committee, chaired by Cossiga himself and, in his absence, by undersecretary Nicola Lettieri. Other members included the supreme commanders of the Italian Police Forces, of the Carabinieri, the [[Guardia di Finanza]], the recently named directors of [[SISMI]] and [[SISDE]] (respectively, Italy's military and civil intelligence services), the national secretary of [[CESIS]] (a secret information agency), the director of UCIGOS and the police prefect of Rome. The second one was an information committee, including members of CESIS, SISDE, SISMI and [[SIOS]], another military intelligence office.

[[File:Andreotti cossiga.jpg|thumb|right|220px|Francesco Cossiga with [[Giulio Andreotti]] in 1978.]]
A third unofficial committee was created which never met officially, called the ''comitato di esperti'' ("committee of experts"). Its existence was not disclosed until 1981, by Cossiga himself, in his interrogation by the Italian Parliament's Commission about the Moro affair. He omitted to reveal the decisions and the activities of the committee however. This committee included: [[Steve Pieczenik]], a psychologist of the anti-terrorism section of the US State Department, and notable Italian criminologists.<ref>{{cite book|first=Nicola|last= Biondo|author2=Massimo Veneziani|title= Il falsario di Stato. Uno spaccato noir della Roma degli anni di piombo|location= Rome|publisher= Cooper|year= 2008|isbn= 978-88-7394-107-1}}</ref> Pieczenik later declared that there were numerous leaks about the discussions made at the committee, and accused Cossiga.<ref>{{cite book|first=Emmanuel |last=Amara|title=Abbiamo ucciso Aldo Moro. La vera storia del rapimento Moro|publisher=Cooper|page= 159, note 41}}</ref>

However, on 9 May 1978 Moro's body was found in the [[Trunk (automobile)|trunk]] of a [[Renault 4]] in Via Caetani after 55 days of imprisonment, during which Moro was submitted to a political trial by the so-called "people's court" set up by the Brigate Rosse and the Italian government was asked for an exchange of prisoners. Despite the common interpretation, the car location in Via Caetani was not halfway between the locations of the national offices of DC and of the [[Italian Communist Party]] (PCI) in Rome.<ref name="Fasanella 2003">{{cite book|first=Giovanni |last=Fasanella |author2=Giuseppe Roca|title=The Mysterious Intermediary. Igor Markevitch and the Moro affair|publisher=Einaudi|year=2003}}</ref> After two days, Cossiga resigned as Minister of the Interior.<ref name="Sassoon"/> According to Italian journalist [[Enrico Deaglio]], Cossiga, to justify his lack of action, "accused the leaders of [[CGIL]] and of the Communist Party of knowing where Moro was detained".<ref name="Deaglio">{{Cite journal|title=La lepre marzolina che attraversò la storia senza pagar dazio|journal=L'Unità|date=18 August 2010|first=Enrico|last=Deaglio|author-link=Enrico Deaglio}}</ref> Cossiga was also accused by Moro himself, in his letters who wrote during his detention, saying that "his blood will fall over him".<ref>{{cite book|title=Il mio sangue ricadrà su di loro. Gli scritti di Aldo Moro prigioniero delle Br|publisher=Kaos edizioni|first=Sergio|last=Flamigni|isbn=88-7953-058-5|year=1997}}</ref>