• La Sardine in piazza in Rome. Challenge to politics, no to party symbols
  • Sardines, the 4 'founders' of Bologna: "Our squares are anti-fascist and will remain so"
  • Florence, the Sardine people fill Piazza della Repubblica for Salvini's arrival
  • Rimini, still a challenge in the square between Salvini and the sardines
  • Crowd of "sardines" in Modena

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December 14, 2019

There is above all the people that in recent years have given rise to anti-fascist demonstrations and for the rights among those who are giving life to Piazza San Giovanni at the first Roman Sardine demonstration, a month after their first appearance in Bologna. Several thousand people gathered on the lawn in front of the Basilica, among them the tricolor Anpi handkerchiefs, many old people, several children and the inevitable sardine cards cut out with the words "Rome does not bind". Young people go hunting for a selfie with one of the movement's spokesmen, Mattia Santori. "We have brought energy from the bottom up to politics, it will be up to politics to understand", explained Santori.

Among the protesters appeals against "the strong man" alone in power, "whoever it is" and then rumors "against the policies of Matteo Salvini" but also disappointed "by a Democratic Party no longer on the left" and by the M5s who " since he governs he has lost his roots ".

"Rome does not bite", "Finally 'nagioia". These are the messages printed on the sardine-shaped cards that animate the event in which people from other places in Italy also participate. "Rome does not bind", the manifesto of a lady.

"We decided to take back the anti-fascist square of San Giovanni", the speaker of the event began from the stage, introducing Carla Nespolo, president of Anpi, as the first speaker: "Hope is the word that unites us. Fight and hope, future and present to be improved. A great breath of hope and democratic commitment has come from you. I hate the indifferent, and I want to say it loud: the Anpi is with you, the partisans and the partisans are with you "he said. The Piazza delle Sardine then sang 'Bella Ciao': "Now and always resistance" the activists shouted after the partisan song. It was therefore the turn of the Hymn of Mameli, also transmitted by the loudspeakers. "Enough racism", some African boys sing as "black sardines".

"I am Nibran, I am a woman, I am a Muslim and I am the daughter of Palestinians. To those who want to reopen dark pages of history I say 'you will never have it, we will not allow it," said a girl with a veil from the stage, after reading together to others some articles of the Constitution. "Obviously this will not please Salvini and Meloni ...", he said.

It was then the turn of Pd MEP Pietro Bartolo. "We are the partisans of 2020, we must resist. We cannot have our Constitution and our Europe taken away, which must put man at the center," he said from the stage in Piazza San Giovanni. From the former migrant doctor in Lampedusa, an intervention largely focused on the rights of migrants and the request to cancel the security decrees, "shameful laws that are not present anywhere else in the world," he said. "They say that I am the doctor who did the most cadaverous inspections in the world, I am ashamed of this record. It is no longer possible to bear all this. There are no laws that criminalize those who save people, these laws go against the Constitution. These laws I'm a disgrace. "