The electoral campaign for the election of the new mayor of Perugia is inflamed by facts and events of May 15, 2015. Luca Merlimunicipal councilor for security at the Lega level, attacks Vittoria Ferdinandi who that day together with other young people harshly protested Matteo Salvinileader of the Carroccioand the police. Ferdinandi he replies with equal harshness, speaking of a “campaign of hatred and denigration of the squad”. But what happened that day? We report the report that the Corriere dell’Umbria published the following day, signed by our journalist Alessandro Antonini.
“Square clashes, protests, insults, spitting. But also visits among the people, clapping of hands, rallies: Matteo Salvini arrives in Green Heartgreen like the color of North league, of which he is leader. However, it turns out to be a day of chiaroscuro, with one part of the region applauding him and following him, another part that opposes him harshly, also triggering problems of public order. “Racist, fascist, die“. A spit in the face. Let’s start almost from the end, from PerugiaPiazza del Bacio, 6pm. The protesters are confined in front of the station Fontevegge, cordoned off. Dozens and dozens of carabinieri and officers in riot gear close the accesses. In the meantime, the candidates of the League and the supporters introduce themselves and reel off the programme. But a part of the demonstrators breaks away and moves forward via Mario Angeloni and looks out from behind, from the top of the square, “surrounding” the Northern League supporters. About one hundred and fifty of the former, two hundred of the latter. Moments of tension. The MEP’s rally in front of the entrance to the former Upim passes by despite the singing on the megaphone like “Salvini upside down”. Throwing bottles is the starting point for the clashes. Urban warfare. One boy stopped, more than one identified. The scuffles right at the end of the demonstration. When the Northern League supporters break up and the protesters approach the people leaving the square. To avoid physical confrontation (over three hundred among all) police and carabinieri they also block traffic, under the Corpus gym, trying to bump into individuals who try to slip between the columns of the same police force. The clash is inevitable. At least one young man arrested, immobilized on the ground, and others identified.
Salvini he speaks for almost half an hour: against the clientelism of the centre-left, against uncontrolled immigration, against the healthcare system that is not working, which sees more and more escapes to the outside, against the infrastructure that is lacking, primarily the roads. With him the presidential candidate Claudio Ricciwho has been following him since the morning, and the Umbrian commissioner Stefano Candiani. “Two mayors not by chance”. From Ricci praises the fact that he did not put Iperf ad Assisi: “Find me someone like that around the worldItaly“. He believes he can win in Umbriawith the League first party. Salvini he is so convinced that he is preparing the third Umbrian event, after Agriumbria and the two days which ends today, on May 25th it will be in Terni. The stages We start from Montefalcoearly in the morning, walk around the village and analysis of the tourist potential, of the environment-food and wine and culture chain, which theUmbria does not fully develop. And the typical features must be defended. The arrival at Marsciano, at 10.30, and the first protest. Yellow poster with writing on it “Salvini come to your house”, he, surrounded by dozens of militants and supporters, tries to ignore them, but around forty protesters make themselves heard. At the first insults, the leader of the League provocatively sends kisses to those who fill him with insults.
A young man approaches him and tells him spit in your face. “Take the extremes, I denounce him”, “they are just poor idiots”: and the climate warms up once more. The military will acquire the images to follow up on the complaint. Meanwhile other protesters they smear the Northern League headquarters in red. Clashes with the carabinieri shortly after the parade in front of the statue of the Ceci brothers (shot by the fascists, ed.) when the procession was stopped. Another protest in via Marconi, at the entrance to Piazza Carlo Marx. More chants and shouts, with traffic blocked and other moments of tension for motorists. The carabinieri decide to escort the Northern League secretary out of Marsciano. There is no shortage of fibrillations between groups of Marscianese, including quite a few supporters of Salvini.
We arrive in Papiano, Ricci’s birthplace, and here is another short scene: photo on a bulldozer with the icon of San Francesco nearby. On Morning 5 he had said that she would need “one bulldozer to level the Roma fields“. The friars of Assisi they dissociate themselves, speak of a “creepy” combination and invite us not to exploit the Poverello. Arrows also for Ricci. TO City of Castello no objections, meeting with the traders and off to San Feliciano, where he enters the fishermen’s cooperative (accompanied by the CEO Valter Sembolini), picks up crates of fish, “I would like to catch some like that” (he’s a fan but as a hobby ), takes a boat ride. He is committed to defending this and other professions Strasbourg. Ditto for the workers of Mercatone Uno, met in the shop. Follows the dispute around theItaly. Handshakes and clay pigeon shooting at the Caccia village in Bastia. During the visit to Courier of Umbriafirst he stops at the sports editorial office to see the arrival of the Tour of Italythen comments on the little girl’s attack on Ternitalks about immigration which “must be controlled, even here in Umbria is out of control, a centre-right governor will help you”. He hopes that the EU parliament will bring the agreements on Tuesday Dublin, an old battle of his that has now been “rediscovered by everyone”. He returns to the protesters, “daddy’s boys who go to demonstrations with helmets”, in counter-demonstrations “facilitated, not tolerated but facilitated” by the centre-left. L’Umbria? Healthcare does not attract “many people go for treatment outside”, the streets are “one Paris-Dakar“. “Too much waste” and welfare. Above all, “there was no real opposition, as in Tuscany and in Marche“. The center-right has always “played to lose”. But now there is League Of Salvini, which aspires to be “the first political force”. Winning in Umbria? “It’s within reach, I believe it.” In the evening closing in Valfabbrica and Gualdo Tadino.
