Rome, Italy - torchlight procession against urban degradation

Yesterday, 10/07/2024, in the very heart of Rome, a torchlight procession took place nearby the central train station, Stazione Termini; the event was organised by the new political party “Indipendenza”, whose leader is the former mayor of the city of Rome, Gianni Alemanno.

Alemanno was accompanied by a large and varied group of Roman citizens - workers, housewives, pensioners, students, etc. - who took part to protest against the degradation and the growing lack of public safety in the area, due - as the party leaders underlined in an interview - to the indiscriminate “hospitality” to the huge quantity of “migrants”, the new business of a certain political structure, with no consideration for the actual unsustainable conditions of these immigrants and the social weight put on the local inhabitants of the cities in terms of safety, degradation, violence, loss of cultural values. On. Alemanno (on.= Honourable, title given to all Mayors of Rome) also polemically argued that, at the very door of Rome, that a central station is considered to be, this is the image of the city that the actual left wing mayor Roberto Gualtieri wants to offer.

By the end, the peaceful parade was met and stopped by two police cars (Pantere) from the “Questura” (central police headquarters), who proceeded to the identification (taking note of all the identities) of all the participants, we suppose to “file” them as far-right activists (yeah: in the middle of a neighbourhood where violence and any kind of crimes - drugs, burglary, pickpocketing, brawls with weapons, rough sleeping, rackets, etc. happen constantly - the police checks and identifies pensioners and housewives tired of living in fear!!! ). And while this was happening, in the presence as well of the Army deployed in the streets for “operazione strade sicure” (“safe streets operation”), there were rough sleepers looking at the scene and even tents (yes, tents!) with so called migrants sleeping on the pavement of the station, close to the main entrance, in the presence of turists and various travellers! Let’s call it “operation we ignore what is happening around us” instead of “safe streets”… Even our journalist (myself) was identified by the fellow and nice policemen and filed only for exercising the right of the press, moreover with disrespect to the local privacy laws, that impose the identification of one subject at a time with sufficient distance from the other individuals to protect the personal privacy.

Good luck to On. Alemanno and his new political party: they really need it, because the situation looks desperate! Thank You for your time.

F.C.