Milan – Discussion in Municipal Council 2 on cycle paths and securing the stretch between viale Monza and the Gorla district. He takes the floor the advisor of Fratelli d’Italia Paolo Roccatagliata. Who, referring to the hated cyclists, says: “For you who end up under trucks and I’m sorry, but not too much“. Overwhelmed by the controversy, the anti-cycling enthusiast thus dismisses the eleven cyclists who died in the city last year. “As you know – he adds in his speech – I hate bicycles.”
The next day, far from him backing down, he specifies: “I was very pissed off. And when someone is angry he says things he shouldn’t say. Said this, cyclists are looking for it. If you take a bicycle in a city like Milan where people travel by car for work, you know what you risk. If you then do it ‘dirty’, perhaps running a red light or going the wrong way, even more so. I see how they behave: I see that They don’t respect the rules.”
Naturally, Roccatagliata’s words sparked the ire of the councilors of the centre-left majority. The President of the Municipality Simone Locatelli (Pd) even asked for an intervention by the Brothers of Italy against its representative in the area council: “In his speech – said Locatelli – Roccatagliata stated that cyclists were victims of fatal road accidents “they go looking for her” and it is very serious especially if it is a representative of the institutions who says it. I hope too Giorgia Meloni’s party, who always talks about safety, wants to distance himself from the statements of his councilor and wants to be alongside those who ask for road safety measures for all road users, starting with cyclists and pedestrians who are the most exposed”.
“But we know that they exploit everything – replies the FdI exponent the next day – As we also know, seven, if not eight, cyclists out of ten vote for the left and therefore it is normal that they always side with bicycles. In any case that’s fine, they didn’t understand that people are tired of these fucking cycle paths. And in fact we saw how the elections went. Go ahead, we will continue to take thirty percent.”
Roccatagliata, moreover, has the hierarchy of road policies very clear in mind: first pedestrians, “those like me, who move on foot and often on pavements have problems with cyclists”, then cars “because the roads are made for cars” and lastly cyclists “who feel they are the masters of the road”. If there is a choice between a cycle path and car parking, the councilor has no doubts: “In Milan there is a terrible hunger for parking. And this is coming from someone who has a parking space and therefore has no problems. But how do you There’s no point in thinking about cycle paths when people don’t know where to park their cars at night.”
In the specific case of the discussion the other evening in the City Council, the anti-two-wheel fury of Roccatagliata was unleashed precisely because “forty parking spaces were sacrificed”. Roccatagliata is used to ending up in the spotlight, one way or another. His name emerged from anonymity in February last year during another Town Hall meeting, this time online. Joining the meeting from a wellness center in Aprica actually appeared naked. “I didn’t notice – he justified himself – that the camera button was open”.
