With secessionist sentiment continuing to soar across Italy, the nation has deployed its special forces in multiple operations nationwide, but primarily centered on northern secessionist regions, arresting 24 “suspected secessionists.”

During the crackdown, police captured a bulldozer in Venice, which they claimed was being dressed up to look like an armored vehicle for deployment during a secessionist protest, and unspecified weapons in both Lombardy and Piedmont, as well as on the island of Sardinia.

A referendum earlier this month showed 89 percent support in Venice for returning to its role as an independent republic, while Sardinia-Piedmont continues to have designs on splitting from Italy and seeking annexation by Switzerland.

Protesters complain that Italy’s central government is an excessive drag on their regional economies, particularly in Venice, one of the wealthier parts of the country, but one which is heavily taxed to subsidize the poorer south.