Authorities release footage of 'tank' they say would have been deployed in St Mark's Square on eve of European elections

This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

Italian special operations units have arrested 24 secessionists who were allegedly planning a violent campaign aimed at gaining independence for the wealthy north-eastern Veneto region.

Police said in a statement on Wednesday that the group had built an armoured vehicle that they intended to deploy in St Mark's Square in Venice – reminiscent of the seven-and-a-half-hour takeover of the piazza's famed bell tower by secessionists in 1997. TV footage revealed the "tank" to be a modified tractor that had been armed in some fashion.

Italian media reported the secessionists intended to deploy the vehicle on the eve of European parliamentary elections in May – a poll anticipated to express growing anti-Europe sentiment following the harsh austerity measures applied during the economic crisis.

Prosecutors allege the secessionists had planned a two-pronged approach of violence and consensus-building.

The crackdown comes days after politicians in Veneto started formal proceedings toward independence, despite constitutional prohibitions.

Veneto's regional governor, Luca Zaia, promoted an online survey that purportedly showed overwhelming support for secession. However the Venetian daily Corriere del Veneto this week reported that of the more than 2.6 million votes in favour of secession, most were generated by computers abroad.

One of the survey's organisers, Gianluca Busato, said the police crackdown was a "ridiculous" overreaction by the state. "We are peaceful democrats," Busato told Sky TG24. "We have the people on our side."

The Veneto region, centered on Venice, helped transform Italy into an industrial power in the 1960s and 1970s. The community of small, family-run businesses that had been the backbone of the region's success have been hit particularly hard by the economic crisis. Secessionist sentiment is rooted in anger that vast sums of money are appropriated by Rome in the form of taxes.

Reports claim that those arrested include two people involved in the 1997 St Mark's takeover, the founder of the secession-minded Liga Veneta and organisers of the so-called "Pitchfork Protests" that sprang up last December aimed at ousting the entire political class.

Police say they have seized numerous weapons in raids that were extended to secessionist movements in other regions, including Lombardy and Piedmont in the north and the island of Sardinia.