According to the ANSA news agency, police undertook operations against the Askatasuna movement in Turin, as well as groups in Modena, Venice and Padua. A judge issued 14 preventive detention warrants against suspects who were targeted in the raids.
The Turin-Lyon high-speed railroad has been a hotly contested issue in Italy since preliminary tunneling began in 2002. In August, a political crisis emerged as the Five Star Movement party voted against the project’s continued construction which angered then-coalition partner, the Lega Party, ultimately leading to the coalition's collapse.
The line was proposed in order to provide faster passenger transport while also decreasing carbon emissions by reducing the amount of road freight traveling across the Alps, but many rural residents who live on the railroad’s proposed route have protested against the project.