A procession of 25 April like this in Milan had never been seen since in 1945 Sandro Pertini announced on the radio the completion of the anti-fascist uprising in the city. Why had there ever been such a large participation of another people, the Ukrainian one, who made the words of ‘Bella ciao’ ring out in another language and invoked ‘another resistance’ for some similar, for others very different from the partisan one, underway on the war field against Russia.
Because the flags of Italy, of Europe, of NATO, never seen here, of Ukraine, have mixed up and because of the protests that have involved all the parties. The most striking to the Democratic Party and to Enrico Letta, more nuanced before the bus began its journey towards the Duomo, with a dozen members of Carc, an extra-parliamentary left formation, who targeted the secretary and the party.
And then very sustained, when the procession began to parade: a smoke bomb also started from the group of a few dozen people who paraded behind the banner: ‘2% of GDP for military spending? Pd Warmonger Party‘. “Shame, out of the procession, hands off the Resistance ‘,’ Born a murderer ‘, the slogans, plus lots of boos. “This is our home, the Constitution is our home, anti-fascism is our home. And solidarity with the Ukrainian people is also our home ”, Letta replied.
In Milan at the parade of #25aprile to celebrate the #Liberation and anti-fascism. Together with many Italians proud of our Constitution. With our flags and those. Procession in which we are and will always be at home. pic.twitter.com/fcpkcZNjj7
– Enrico Letta (@EnricoLetta) April 25, 2022
In the Porta Venezia area there were moments of tension when the Jewish Brigade and some associations with flags of the Atlantic Alliance passed: “Out of Italy from NATO” and “Intifada until victory”, shouted militants from the social centers held at a distance from the police.
From the stage in Piazza Duomo, the president of the Anpi, Gianfranco Pagliarulo, called the disputes against the dem “a serious mistake” and then tried to calm the controversy for his positions considered pro-Russian and for the no to sending weapons in Kiev. “We condemn the invasion by Putin’s army without ifs ands and we affirm that Ukraine has the duty and the moral and legal right to defend itself “, he assured.” We must avoid losing the compass of a unitary position on single facts “, added Pagliarulo, assuring that he never thought about resigning. .
Shortly before, however, the secretary of the CGIL, Maurizio Landini, had returned to criticize the choice to give arms to Kiev, attracting the whistles of the Ukrainians and the ‘atlantist’ demonstrators: “I do not agree that the answer” to the war in Ukraine is “to rearm the whole world”.
Moments of tension also in Reggio Emilia where a delegation from + Europa and Italia Viva with European, Ukrainian and US flags (one carried by an eight-year-old girl) would have been insulted and then invited by the police to leave, between choruses against NATO. “A truly unfortunate and embarrassing situation with regard to the values of the Resistance“, the two parties denounced.
Another commemoration took place in Marzabotto, in the Bolognese Apennines, the scene of the Nazi massacre of 1944. The President of the Chamber, Roberto Fico, praised Italy’s “courageous and important” choice to send weapons to the Ukrainian army and the will “to be a community that builds peace”. A letter sent by Liliana Segre was read in which the senator for life wrote that even in Ukraine “resisting is necessary and a duty”.