The long snake of the procession – which protested against the anti-rave decree, in force for just over two years – started on Saturday at 3.30 pm from via Forlanini with fourteen floats which then paraded through the city up to the amphitheater of the park Farmhouses. Precisely in this area the party, with loud music and rivers of alcohol, would be This went on until after 2am.
«I have received dozens of messages from very saddened residents – explains Giovanni Matino of the Leopolda Viva association – The inconveniences suffered do not only concern traffic, with us in the area between via Michelucci and via Bausi unable to return home, but also the behavior of too many demonstrators.” Matino reports several reports: streets reduced to open-air toilets, dirt everywhere, walls smeared with graffiti between Via Ponte alle Mosse and Largo Porta al Prato, noise at night.
«And when some residents dared to point out that someone in the procession was exaggerating, they received all kinds of insults in return. There was a bad climate of intimidationyou couldn’t even look at some people: we were just asking for a little more civility.”
Matino explains that «the Cascine area is now an area of total impunity, both as regards drug dealing and the many, perhaps too many, events that are organized at the expense of the citizens. I don’t know who authorized this demonstration, the decision probably came after consultation between the institutions, but it was a mistake. It was known that the aim of the demonstrators was not to legitimately protest with respect for the community, but to engage in civil disobedience.”
Maria Cristina Paoli del former Municipal Theater Area committee reports a general discontent among residents in the Corso Italia area due to «the little communication that was made to citizens about such an impactful event. Many elderly people were afraid to leave their homes in the afternoon and many animals were also scared by the noise.”
Videos were filmed on the committee’s chat which showed the lighting of smoke bombs during the procession and testimonies from local residents: «At 8pm I entered Carrefour – reports a resident – It was full of young people who almost exclusively bought spirits, beers, wine etc. I go out and head towards home, in via Magenta, and there were two boys sitting on the steps of the building on the corner calmly taking a cocaine trail, while two other young men were urinating between the cars. But what did their parents teach these kids? Are they talking about anti-fascism? They do what they want and don’t want any kind of limitationsthere would be a lot to think about.”
Simone Gianfaldoni of the San Jacopino Active Citizens Committee witnessed «an argument in via Bellini between a family with children and a small group of upset kids who were doing their business behind a dumpster in broad daylight. There were many rude people who littered the streets with bottles».
As mentioned before, there were many posts dedicated to the procession, such as on the Facebook group «You are from the Isolotto if…»: «For heaven’s sake, what is happening to the Cascine?». Among the hundreds of furious comments, also responded president of Q4 Mirko Dormentoni: «All demonstrations are welcome, the desire of many young people to experience public spaces, the freedom to protest against a law, the initiatives to experience our park positively, but the rules must be respected and it is intolerable that deafening music goes on all night, preventing thousands of people from sleeping. For this reason I will write on behalf of District 4 to the police commissioner and prefect asking for explanations. It must never happen again.”
