The statue of a famous Italian journalist was sprayed with red paint by strangers accusing him of "racism" in Milan, attracting almost unanimous political condemnation on Sunday.
The inscription "racist, rapist" was also tagged with black paint on the base of the statue dedicated to Indro Montanelli (1909-2001) in the garden of the same name, in the center of Milan (northern Italy) , AFP noted.
In the wake of the George Floyd case
It is the first statue attacked in Italy in the wave of demonstrations sparked worldwide by the case of George Floyd, a black American who died in the United States on May 25 under the knee of a white policeman during his arrest . These anti-racist protests have given rise in the world to the debunking or the degradation of several statues of controversial figures, such as the 15th century navigator Christopher Columbus.
The group "Rete Studenti Milano e Lume", presenting itself as a "university collective" of the Lombard capital, claimed Sunday the operation on social networks. He posted a 40-second video in which two hooded individuals threw cans of red paint on the bronze statue, before bombing his pedestal.
Statua di #Montanelli: ecco come è andata. Il video dell'azione di @LUMe_occupato e Rete Studenti Milanohttps: //t.co/RXBnHbxf3W
- valerio renzi (@valeriorenzi) June 14, 2020An act which is not unanimous
"A colonialist who has made slavery an important part of his political activity cannot and should not be celebrated in the public square", justified this organization, asking for the removal of the statue. "In such an important world moment (...), we think that characters like that of Indro Montanelli are harmful to everyone's imagination".
Police are investigating, at the request of the prosecutor's office, according to the AGI news agency. The statue was cleaned during the day by the city services, which were joined by passers-by and residents of the neighborhood indignant at an "absurd" act of "vandalism".
"It is absurd to be against the people who built the history of Italy and history in general," condemned one of them.
“There were somewhat questionable episodes, but when he was very young and in a very particular historical context. This does not justify such an ugly act, ”said another resident, a 61-year-old lawyer.
Labeled as "fascist"
Founder of the newspaper Il Giornale, Indro Montanelli (1909-2001) notably passed by the daily Corriere della Sera . Classified on the right, the man called himself "anticommunist" and "anarcho-conservative", which earned him to be labeled as "fascist" by the Italian left during the 1970s and 1980s. He had escaped in 1977 to an attempt of the Red Brigades.
In 1935 he volunteered for the colonial war of the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini in Eritrea.
In recent days, an “anti-fascist” Milanese association, I Sentinelli, had demanded the removal of the statue, accusing the journalist of having married a child in Ethiopia during the Italian colonization, an episode from which Montanelli never hid .
"The statue must stay where it is"
“Hatred and malice increasingly dominate civil and democratic confrontation. We really have to worry about it, ”condemned the president (center-left) of the Lombardy region, Attilio Fontana. "Ignoring or rewriting history is the new hobby of extremists," said Andrea Marcucci, of the Democratic Party (PD, left). "Soiling the statue of Montanelli is a gesture of cowardice," said Antonio Tajani, vice-president of Forza Italia (right).
Far-right leader Matteo Salvini castigated the “ignorant” and “the coward” responsible for the damage. Giorgia Meloni, patron of the post-fascist party Fratelli d'Italia, attacked the "new Taliban of anti-racism".
"The statue must stay where it is," reacted on social media the mayor of Milan, Beppe Sala, saying he was available "for any discussion on the themes of racism and Montanelli". "He was a great journalist, who fought for freedom of the press (...) We ask for a spotless life? But when we judge our lives, can we say that ours is spotless? Lives must be judged in their complexity ”. Last year, the statue had already been covered with paint, pink this time, during a feminist demonstration.
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