Brawl in Parliament, the Bureau of the Chamber suspends 11 deputies: among them also Iezzi and Donno. Fontana: «The confrontation must never transcend into violence»

Fifteen days of “censorship with a ban on participating in parliamentary work” for the Honorable Northern League member Igor Iezzi; 7 days to the honorable members Enzo Amich, Gianmarco Cangiano, and Federico Mollicone, all three from Fratelli d’Italia, and to the deputies Domenico Furgiuele (Lega) and Nico Stumpo (Pd); 4 days to the Honorable M5S Leonardo Donno; 3 days to the dem Vincenzo Amendola and the Northern League member Stefano Candiani; 2 days at the PD Arturo Scotto and Claudio Michele Stefanazzi. This was decided by the Bureau of the Chamber after the brawl that broke out in the Chamber yesterday due to the opposition’s protest. The disciplinary measures were adopted with 10 votes in favor (the majority members of the Bureau present at the meeting, plus Roberto Giachetti of Italia viva and Benedetto Della Vedova of +Europa) and six against (Pd, M5s and Alleanza verdi and left).

The Bureau recalls that, «pursuant to Article 60, paragraph 3, of the Regulations, the decisions regarding sanctions adopted by the Bureau are communicated to the Assembly and in no case can they be the subject of discussion».

But what happened? On Wednesday in Montecitorio, during the session on autonomy, the work had degenerated, with the opposition protest ending with the five-star Leonardo Donno taken away in a wheelchair after an attack by Lega and FdI deputies. This morning the opposition went on the attack, denouncing “unacceptable violence” and “squad methods”. Even the session in the Montecitorio chamber today, for the examination of the Calderoli bill, was immediately interrupted: the opposition contested the minutes of the Chamber, which defined the episode of the previous day as “disorders” and not “aggression”, and requested that the bureau be summoned. Who then decided on the sanctions for the MPs involved.

The political confrontation between different positions “can never transcend into physical conflict, into offending others, or into violence”, underlined the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Lorenzo Fontana, when communicating the sanctions. «I can only remind all deputies, in particular the presidents of parliamentary groups, not to repeat attitudes and words that cause violence and undermine the image of this institution», he concluded.

Democratic Party deputies protest against the decisions Anna Ascani and Stefano Vaccari: «The Bureau did not adopt any criterion of proportionality in defining the banning days of the deputies involved. It is not acceptable to essentially put the attacked and the attackers on the same level.” Dissatisfied too Candiani (League), who believes the sanction imposed on him (three days) is «disproportionate compared to that imposed on the provocateur Donno, who received 4 days. These are facts that should never happen, starting from those who cause the provocations.” Disappointed too Filiberto Zaratti (Avs), according to which the bureau did not establish “fair sanctions, on the contrary it ended up confusing victims and perpetrators and we are not there”. The group leader of the 5 Star Movement in the Chamber, Francesco Silvestri, contests: «We are faced with the most shameful and dangerous sanctions that this Parliament has ever seen. There was an embarrassing comparison which opens up very dangerous precedents for the democratic progress of the country.” While Stumpo he believes that «another act of squadrism has been carried out by putting everyone on the same level»: «We have seen parliamentarians praising fascism and the Decima Mas and carrying out physical attacks. Our reaction was that of those who swore on the anti-fascist Constitution. The same one that they continue to trample on every day with their actions.”

Iezzi he instead accepted the sanction, commenting: «A truth has been established: a bad day that many fathers had…». Respect the decision as well Scotto, who specifies: «We have never used violence. We only condemned serious gestures”, or “protested against the fascists who simulated the X Mas in the courtroom”. Mashed potato Amendola accepts the measure, while specifying that he has «opposed without violence to the unacceptable acts of the right in the chamber, to the attempts to split Italy with Autonomy: aggression, squadrism, fascist symbols of the X MAS» and that he is ready to protest «every turn against this unseemly spectacle.”

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