Macerata has authorised an
anti-Fascist rally Saturday, a week after the racist shooting of
six African migrants in the Marche city, organisers said Friday.
Leaving the police HQ where a preparatory meeting was still
under way, they said "the intention was to have a peaceful
demonstration to reaffirm the values of anti-Fascism and
anti-racism, and so it will be".
The march will start from the city's Diaz Gardens, go around
the medieval walls, and return to the gardens, they said.
The city prefecture said there was "no public-order reason
for the march not to go ahead as planned".
It said the OK had come after a "serene and responsible
discussion" with organisers who had "assured it will be a
peaceful demonstration".
The OK came after hours of confusion about who would take
part in the demo, or whether it would take place at all.
Macerata Mayor Romano Carancini this week called for no
demonstrations to be held in the city in the near future to
avoid heightening tensions and the interior ministry said the
anti-Fascist march should not take place.
But several prominent left-wing figures criticised this.
Partisans association ANPI on Friday called for the
demonstration to be authorized.
It said that, while it was not taking part in the march as an
organization, its individual members might participate.
Senate Speaker Pietro Grasso, leader of the leftwing Free and
Equal (LeU) party, said the protest should be allowed.
"Denying it would create more tension," Grasso said.
Democratic Party (PD) deputy leader and Agriculture Minister
Maurizio Martina announced Friday that the centre-left group
will take part in a national anti-Fascism demonstration called
by ANPI later this month, rather than the Macerata rally.
"ANPI has proposed a big national #FascismNeverAgain event in
Rome on February 24," Martina said via Twitter. "The Democratic
Party will be there. #nofascism".
Carancini said Friday that public schools would be closed in
Macerata on Saturday and public transport suspended after 13:30
as a precautionary measure.
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