Nunzia Alessandra Schilirò told rally that covid Green Pass was "illegitimate" and contravened Italy's constitution.

An Italian deputy police commissioner in Rome - who addressed a 'No Green Pass' protest in the city's Piazza S. Giovanni on 25 September - has been suspended with effect from 12 October.

Nunzia Alessandra Schilirò, a 'vice-questore', has been an outspoken critic of the government's Green Pass, a certificate which shows that people have been vaccinated, tested negative or recovered from covid-19.

The Green Pass is required for most activities in Italy, including dining indoors in restaurants and long-distance domestic travel, and it will become mandatory in the workplace from 15 October.

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Schilirò, who said she participated in the rally as "a free citizen", told the crowd that the Green Pass was "illegitimate" and contravened Italy's constitution.

She also said she would "keep going, with or without a uniform."

Her comments were slammed as "extremely serious" by Italian interior minister Luciana Lamorgese who said that she was "following the case personally."

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Schilirò did not address or attend the large 'No Green Pass' rally in Piazza del Popolo on 9 October, which led to violent scenes, including the storming of the CGIL trade union headquarters, and resulted in 38 police officers being injured in clashes.

In a long post on Facebook, Schilirò repeated "for the umpteenth and last time" that she stayed clear of the event "precisely because I knew that people with whom I have nothing in common would also be there."

• Italy police block Forza Nuova website amid calls to ban the neo-fascist group

This is believed to be a reference to the neo-fascist Forza Nuova group whose leaders were subequently arrested and whose website has been taken offline by court order pending an investigation into the violence.

Schilirò also lashed out - "as a citizen and a trade unionist" - at the "reprehensible behaviour of some police officers" during the clashes in Rome.

She called for the "immediate punishment of the police officers who beat demonstrators without any provocation", labelling the violence as "inadmissible from any side."

• Calls in Italy to ban Forza Nuova after Rome 'Green Pass' violence

In a separate development, a plain-clothes officer who was filmed beating a protester on the ground off Via del Corso on Saturday evening presented himself to a police station on Monday.

The actions of the officer, who in the footage is dressed in a grey t-shirt and is restrained by riot police, are "being evaluated by the judicial authority," according to a statement from the Questura.

Photo Il Messaggero