Minister Roccella challenged at the Turin Book Fair
Book fair: protesters contest Roccella, minister, ‘let’s face each other’
“I decide on my body, but which state, but which God”. So a group of protesters of the movements Extinction Rebellion, the Essenon Committee, Not one less, Friday For Future and Ecology with shouts and banners welcomed the Minister of the Family, Eugenia Roccella, in a meeting at the Book Fair. The police immediately intervened to remove the demonstrators from the stand, but the minister invited the demonstrators to a confrontation. “I would like to talk to the people demonstrating, I don’t want anyone to be taken away, I cannot accept it since my experience was also that of sittings in which I was taken away”, said Minister Roccella. A demonstrator then took the stage and read a statement.
Protesters were seated in the audience and as soon as the minister got on stage they stood up and started the protest. Some lay down on the ground, others took off their shirts showing on their abdomen the words ‘Free abortion’ and ‘Ru426 in every hospital’ and some others raised placards saying ‘State out of my underwear’. Question and answer with the minister who said at the end of reading the press release “if it is true that you are against the commodification of women’s bodies, fight with us against surrogate wombs”. Words that were greeted by protesters with screams.
Minister Roccella challenged at the Turin Book Fair
Minister Eugenia Roccella challenged during her speech at the Turin Book Fair. The protest was organized by activists from Extinction Rebellion, feminists from Non una di Meno
Book fair: Lagioia, ‘after protest there is an opportunity for dialogue’, protesters say no
“The Salone is a democratic place and democracy is also part of the protest but in my opinion you have the opportunity to talk to the minister after having contested her why not one of you, a delegate, take the stage and discuss?. Why not turn this occasion into a heated dialogue? Yours is a legitimate, peaceful protest, but at a certain point there must be dialogue”. Thus the director of the Salone, Nicola Lagioia, attempted to convince the demonstrators to confront the Minister of the Family, Eugenia Roccella. An appeal which, however, like the invitation previously made by the minister himself, was not accepted and Lagioia left the stand.
Book fair: Roccella, ‘Lagioia kicked out? Fantasy about reality
“I understand that Lagioia is a writer, but building a fantasy narrative on reality seems a bit excessive to me”. Thus, in a note, the minister Eugenia Roccella comments on the words of the director of the Turin Book Fair, Nicola Lagioia, who claimed to have been ‘almost kicked out’ from the stage where the presentation of the minister’s book was supposed to take place, ‘ A radical family’. “Faced with an aggression suffered and my invitation to dialogue addressed to the protesters – says Roccella -, the director of the Salone not only does not find a way to say that it is undemocratic to prevent others from speaking, but he even attacks those to whom was prevented from expressing himself. No comment”.
Book fair, Lagioia: verbally attacked by FdI deputy
“The Piedmont Region has a space, at the Salone, where it manages its programming independently. In this space, the Region invited the minister for the family, Eugenia Maria Roccella, to present her book. A dispute then began in front of the Region’s stand to the minister. I was called to speak on stage. Some officials of the Region asked me. What I said is very simple. I said that in a democracy, protests are legitimate as long as they are not violent”. Thus the director of the Turin book fair, Nicola Lagioia, with a post on Facebook, reconstructed what happened on the occasion of the protest by feminist activists who today prevented the minister Eugenia Roccella from presenting her book. “And I then invited – he adds – those who contested to dialogue with the minister, even making harsh criticisms to which he could have responded. The democratic game between citizens and power is also made up of harsh criticisms. It seemed to me that the protesters did not accept this type of invitation (again: those who protest, provided they do not violently, decide how to contest). she demanded that I say what she wanted, she began to verbally attack me with a rather disconcerting fury and verbal violence: “Shame! shame!” At that point, full of embarrassment for her, I got off a stage where in a while I had to prevent the deputy from throwing herself at me”. Finally Lagioia writes: “NB. I read from the online newspapers that he was also attacked by the minister, as well as by the deputy of Fratelli d’Italia”.
Book Salon. Malan (FdI): intolerance and squadrism against Roccella. We expect unanimous political and cultural condemnation
“What happened today at the Turin Book Fair where Minister Roccella was prevented from presenting his book is very serious. A demonstration of intolerance and squadrism that I hope will be unanimously censured by the political and cultural worlds. Preventing a person from speaking and expressing his thoughts has no justification, and is only an anti-liberal and anti-democratic act of oppression. Solidarity with Eugenia Roccella who, as on other occasions, demonstrated what it really means to be a person inspired by the principles of freedom, democracy and respect for the opinions of others in the face of the partisanship and intolerant attitudes of the interlocutors”. This was declared by the president of the senators of the Brothers of Italy, Lucio Malan.
Book fair: about twenty identified demonstrators prevent Roccella from speaking
There are about twenty demonstrators identified by the Digos of Turin for having prevented the intervention of the Minister of the Family, Eugenia Roccella, in the Piedmont Arena of the Book Fair. According to what is learned, they would be members of Extinction Rebellion and Non una di meno who now risk a complaint for private violence. In the meantime, the minister left the stage, after meeting the prefect and the questore of Turin, Raffaele Ruberto and Vincenzo Ciarambino, the heads of the Salone, the director Nicola Lagioia and the president of the Turin City of Books Association, Silvio Viale, also left the kermesse.
Book Fair: Sangiuliano, ‘very serious act of intolerance, utmost solidarity with Roccella’
“What happened today at the Turin Book Fair against the Minister of the Family, Eugenia Roccella, is unacceptable and very serious. Not allowing an author, whoever he is, to be able to freely present his book and express his thoughts because he is blocked by a group of violent people, is an undemocratic and illiberal act, as well as a dangerous precedent for the free debate of ideas”. This is underlined by the Minister of Culture, Gennaro Sangiuliano. Warns the owner of the Mic: “It is not by silencing those who think differently from ours that one’s ideas can be affirmed. All my closeness and solidarity go to Minister Roccella, in the hope that these acts of intolerance will never happen again”, declared Minister Sangiuliano.
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