Clashes in Montecitorio: it is painful to hear the desperation of traders and restaurateurs who on Tuesday 6 April gathered in front of the Parliament in Rome to ask for reopening. There is Lorraine, 62, and “all his money in a bar opened 15 years ago in Bologna and which has only been at a loss for a year”. She cries softly, consoled by a policeman, while in the square in front of Palazzo Chigi the agents charge the demonstrators. He cries because, he says almost ashamed, “now I work for one euro per hour”.
A little further on the figure of the shaman stands out Ermes, 51-year-old restaurateur from Modena, harangues the crowd dressed as Jack Angeli, the conspiratorial Viking of the assault on Capitol Hill. “I had to dress up as a clown to get attention. I hope that now someone notices us and listens to us. I went to the loan sharks to pay the employees, ”he says with a certain desperate disenchantment surrounded by photographers and cameramen.
Between Lorraine and Ermes the anger of traders boils, VAT numbers, gym owners (“indeed now former owners”), restaurateurs. At the margins, dressed in black, ordinance hoods, silent but vigilant, the militants of CasaPound who wanted to join the protest of the #IoApro movement.
Update at 21:04
Clashes Montecitorio, the balance sheet
In the evening, reconstructing what happened, investigative and intelligence sources explain that some groups have infiltrated among the traders, with the aim of exploiting social unease.
Commenting on the unrest, the Minister of the Interior, Luciana Lamorgese, explained that “at this moment the protests are fueled by the extremely delicate situation for the country, but any violent behavior towards those who are committed to defending legality and security is inadmissible. “.
After hours, the tension subsided and there was no lack of understanding from the agents – one of whom took off his helmet and went to speak with the demonstrators who applauded his gesture – aware that most of those shopkeepers had not certainly violent intentions.
The final toll, including charges and throwing of objects, is of seven protesters arrested and at least two policemen injured.
Clashes Montecitorio, the first real protest square and the stain of CasaPound
The first, true, protest square against the anti Covid measures is made up of many different, heartbreaking stories, and little politics, were it not for the black spot of the far right of CasaPound. What unites them is desperation and exasperation “for the absence of perspective”. A black future that unites employees and business owners, now on the same side of the fence to protest against “the measures that have starved us for a year”.
A man, a clear northern accent, and an immigrant employee of his say in unison: “We are here together to remind Italy of article 1 of the Constitution”, says the employer. The employee nods.
Other protesters distribute obituaries announcing the death of gyms and VAT numbers. The bulk of the square is done by the restaurateurs of the #IoApro movement who have come from all over. “We don’t want contributions, we don’t want support, we want to work, let us raise the shutters”, they repeat.
Someone in a whisper says he has turned to “the usurers to move forward”, others speak of “crime lurking to take it all”. Someone is wearing the mask. Many do not have it because “we have been carrying them for a year and people continue to die, we have been closed for a year and nothing has changed”.
But most of them don’t want to be labeled a “denier or no mask”. Or worse no vax. “Let us reopen, listen to us, give us hope”, says a restaurateur as he walks through the lowered shutters of the center of Rome.
Clashes Montecitorio, the VIDEO from above
Source: Vista Agency / Alexander Jakhnagiev