A letter to the Prefect and the mayor of Turin who requests the revocation of the Circo Royal Orfei’s presence, present in the Piedmontese capital from March 29th to May 5th. The presidents of the Anti-vivisection League (Lav) and of theInternational Organization for Animal Protection (Oipa). A similar request will be sent to the Prefect and the Mayor of Novara, where the structure should begin performances on May 10th. But the prefect Donato Giovanni Cafagna replies: «The Circo Orfei is an authorized activity. If there had been violent behavior on the part of anyone, they will be evaluated by the competent bodies.”
A letter that arrives following the events of Sunday 28 April when «some employees of the Circo Royal», currently waiting at the Pellerina Park in Turin, «became protagonists of aggressive and certainly excessive acts during the arbitrary exercise of their reasons ».
Before the start of the show, five activists from Ribellione Animale entered the tent with a banner reading “Enough animals in circuses”, sitting on the ground chained to each other. A “non-violent” action, the associations explain, which “had the sole purpose of demonstrating dissent towards the use of animals in circuses”.
The owner of the Circus, Eusanio Martino, had explained the intervention of the circus performers as an attempt to «get activists out of the arena, since shortly thereafter some horses would enter and the lights on the stage were low.” Then adding that it would not be the first time that the Circus becomes the scene of protests from the animal rights world.
A still image of the video released by Ribellione Animale on the alleged attack on the Orfei Circus
The associations reply: «Although the action had not been authorized, it was certainly a demonstrative action that went in the direction envisaged by the enabling law of 22 November 2017, n. 175, containing provisions on entertainment and delegations to the Government for the reorganization of the matter which, with the intention of conceiving a new Entertainment Code, has provided for the gradual elimination of the use of animals in circus activities, a law still awaiting the relevant implementing legislative decree”.
And regarding the alleged brawl occurred in a secondary tent between circus performers and activists, who suffered three head injuries, a perforated eardrum and several bruises, the associations explain: «The reaction on the part of some circus performers appears absolutely exaggerated, also hypothesizing the violation of article 393 of the Criminal Code (“Arbitrary exercise of one’s own reasons with violence against people”). These, in particular, turned violently, with pushes and blows, towards the activists, who were forced to seek medical treatment in the nearby emergency room”, the letter continues.
The image published by Ribellione Animale after the alleged attack at the Circo Orfei in Turin
«Even more serious appears to be the fact that the violent reaction occurred in front of the audience, in which several minors were also present».
Lav and Oipa therefore ask for the immediate revocation of the permit to camp in the municipal area of Turin, “in order to prevent the collective acts of violence and arbitrariness of which the members of the Royal circus were the protagonists”.
