DThe Italian authorities on Monday broke up an illegal rave party at an empty factory building near Modena in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna. Around 3,500 ravers from all over Italy and abroad had come to the Halloween party, which should have lasted until Tuesday. Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi ordered the warehouse to be cleared on Sunday evening after the owner of the warehouse had filed a complaint against the occupiers and pointed out the dilapidated state of the building.
Early Monday morning, a good 300 officers from the riot police, the carabinieri and the financial police, as well as several fire brigade platoons, cordoned off a large area of the site. Already on Sunday, the traffic police had closed the entrances to the site and the exits of the nearby motorway, which led to significant traffic obstructions in the greater Modena area. After several hours of negotiations between the heads of the police operation and representatives of the organizers, it was agreed that the ravers would no longer hole up in the hall and leave the area peacefully by Monday evening. The expensive music system in the warehouse was not confiscated as threatened by the authorities, but was dismantled and taken away by the owners. It was also agreed that the hall and the grounds would be cleaned of rubbish and rubbish by visitors to the rave party.
Illegal rave parties have always taken place in Italy in the past. In August, a 24-year-old woman died at a rave on Lake Mezzano in the capital region of Lazio, suspected of a drug overdose. The then Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese was heavily criticized by the then opposition party Brothers of Italy for her de-escalation strategy during the five-day rave party. Lamorgese had dismissed calls for the site to be cleared by the lake, arguing that children were among those attending the illegal party. A violent evacuation of the site, possibly using water cannons and tear gas, would have endangered ravers, emergency services and public safety, Lamorgese justified her actions in a parliamentary debate.
Package of measures against illegal rave parties
On Monday, Interior Minister Piantedosi presented the cabinet with a package of measures to combat illegal rave parties. According to this, all equipment such as music systems and vehicles belonging to the organizers of the illegal raves are to be confiscated immediately. In addition, the organizers should be obliged to repair damage to buildings and grounds. Former Interior Minister Matteo Salvini of the right-wing Lega welcomed the Piantedose initiative, who had been Salvini’s chief of staff during his tenure at the Interior Ministry. “No more illegal rave parties and high-handed delinquents fooling the authorities,” Salvini said.
Former Labor and Social Affairs Secretary Andrea Orlando has criticized the Home Secretary’s strategy against rave parties as a dangerous and counterproductive escalation. “Has the Home Secretary not heard of the rave party in Predappio on Sunday, which I believe was by far the most dangerous? Were all legal provisions complied with there?” asked the politician from the Social Democrats. With his remark, Orlando alluded to the march of around 2,000 neo-fascists and fascism nostalgics in the birthplace of the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini in Emilia-Romagna. The participants in the commemorative march on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the “March on Rome” at the end of October 1922, which led to Mussolini’s seizure of power in Rome, wore – like their historical role models – black shirts and chanted fascist slogans. At the end of the rally, the participants filed to the crypt of the Mussolini family in the Predappio cemetery, where numerous other family members are buried in addition to the “Duce”. Although Sunday’s rally in Predappio was registered and proceeded peacefully, under a law passed in 1952, trivializing or even glorifying fascism is forbidden in Italy. Violations of the law are rarely punished.
At the end of the event, Orsola Mussolini, a great-granddaughter of the fascist dictator, gave a speech in front of the gates of the cemetery. “If we still come here after 100 years, it is to commemorate a man who wanted this state and to whom we will always express our admiration,” said Orsola Mussolini. The rally serves as a reminder of the march 100 years ago that prompted the Italian King to appoint my great-grandfather Prime Minister. From there, he and his associates set out to create a new, more efficient and effective state, focused on solving problems,” said the Duce’s great-granddaughter.