Rome, Oct. 19 (LaPresse) – “The left is never able to condemn, without ifs or buts, the hooligans who lay waste to cities. It is even more serious when Giuseppe Sala does so: because he is the mayor.” This is what Nicola Molteni, League undersecretary at the Interior Ministry, told Corriere della Sera in an interview about the weekend of marches, clashes and destruction that affected several Italian cities, starting with Milan. “Did Sala subsequently clarify his position? He backtracked,” Molteni explains. “But, as happens on the left, he shifts the responsibility for what happened onto the system. There is only one party responsible: the criminals. They turn it into a political issue: it’s the police chief’s fault, the prefect’s fault, the government’s fault. No: it’s these people who are to blame; they arrive carrying homemade bombs. A senior officer at the Garibaldi-Venezia police station ended up with his head split open by a cobblestone, while shops and cars were wrecked. The images are those of a war zone.” Yet, the undersecretary reiterates, “there is never a firm, clear, unequivocal statement: these criminals are to blame.” According to Molteni, those in the streets included “social centres, anarchists, pro-Pal demonstrators, maranza… Often they are second-generation immigrants, with their faces concealed, hooded, carrying foreign flags. This means that the integration the left is always going on about has completely failed. Integration is achieved through the Italian language, work and rules. It is not achieved by handing out citizenship.” Meanwhile, today Matteo Salvini will present the League’s proposal for a financial deposit to organise demonstrations. “We are asking for our bill to be turned into an amendment to the forthcoming Security Decree,” Molteni says. “The requirements of necessity and urgency are met. But we are also calling for action to be accelerated on what you call the ‘anti-maranza bill’. And for the number of military personnel deployed on streets and at stations to be increased to 10,000. Claims that these measures are unconstitutional? The left says that every time. Then it turns out that they are not. Anyone organising a demonstration must provide a guarantee against damage: whoever causes it pays. It’s true, I have seen a certain reluctance even among our allies. We are now calling for a serious debate.” Molteni clarifies that the right to demonstrate is, in any case, “sacred, despite accusations that we want to restrict it. I would remind everyone that the police and law enforcement agencies are the ones who guarantee the right to take to the streets. Obviously, this does not mean the right to smash everything.” The League also “proposes adding offences against police forces to the grounds that can prevent someone from obtaining citizenship.” As for the ‘Maranza Decree’, it “provides for extending police detention powers to minors as well, in order to separate violent individuals from peaceful demonstrators. Second, it establishes the offence of aggravated damage to property. The aggravating circumstance is acting in groups of more than five people, with penalties of up to five years in prison and a €15,000 fine. Third, it strengthens formal warnings and reprimands issued by the police chief, including a ban on gathering for minors during demonstrations or violent nightlife events: it also cracks down on brawls and urban decay.”
Protests, Molteni (Lega): “The Left Never Condemns Without Ifs or Buts”
Rome, Oct. 19 (LaPresse) – “The left is never able to condemn, without ifs or buts, the hooligans who lay waste to cities. It is even more serious when Giuseppe Sala does so: because he is the mayor.” This is what Nicola Molteni, League undersecretary at the Interior Ministry, told Corriere della Sera in an interview about the weekend of marches, clashes and destruction that affected several Italian cities, starting with Milan. “Did Sala subsequently clarify his position? He backtracked,” Molteni explains. “But, as happens on the left, he shifts the responsibility for what happened onto the system. There is only one party responsible: the criminals. They turn it into a political issue: it’s the police chief’s fault, the prefect’s fault, the government’s fault. No: it’s these people who are to blame; they arrive carrying homemade bombs. A senior officer at the Garibaldi-Venezia police station ended up with his head split open by a cobblestone, while shops and cars were wrecked. The images are those of a war zone.” Yet, the undersecretary reiterates, “there is never a firm, clear, unequivocal statement: these criminals are to blame.” According to Molteni, those in the streets included “social centres, anarchists, pro-Pal demonstrators, maranza… Often they are second-generation immigrants, with their faces concealed, hooded, carrying foreign flags. This means that the integration the left is always going on about has completely failed. Integration is achieved through the Italian language, work and rules. It is not achieved by handing out citizenship.” Meanwhile, today Matteo Salvini will present the League’s proposal for a financial deposit to organise demonstrations. “We are asking for our bill to be turned into an amendment to the forthcoming Security Decree,” Molteni says. “The requirements of necessity and urgency are met. But we are also calling for action to be accelerated on what you call the ‘anti-maranza bill’. And for the number of military personnel deployed on streets and at stations to be increased to 10,000. Claims that these measures are unconstitutional? The left says that every time. Then it turns out that they are not. Anyone organising a demonstration must provide a guarantee against damage: whoever causes it pays. It’s true, I have seen a certain reluctance even among our allies. We are now calling for a serious debate.” Molteni clarifies that the right to demonstrate is, in any case, “sacred, despite accusations that we want to restrict it. I would remind everyone that the police and law enforcement agencies are the ones who guarantee the right to take to the streets. Obviously, this does not mean the right to smash everything.” The League also “proposes adding offences against police forces to the grounds that can prevent someone from obtaining citizenship.” As for the ‘Maranza Decree’, it “provides for extending police detention powers to minors as well, in order to separate violent individuals from peaceful demonstrators. Second, it establishes the offence of aggravated damage to property. The aggravating circumstance is acting in groups of more than five people, with penalties of…