“After he stopped on his bike he wasn’t wearing a mask.” Thus we read in the report that the carabinieri handed over on 8 February at 7.30 in the morning to Mertcan, 20, a young worker who was going to work in Nichelino. 280 euro fine to be paid immediately, 400 if he had allowed five days to pass from the report.
Maxi fine, micro salary
“I paid because the risk was having to pay more – he says – my salary is 600 euros, I could not risk spending more than three quarters for a fine that I consider an injustice”. Mertcan is not a No vax nor a No mask, on the contrary, “I keep the mask all day at work, I would fine those who refuse to wear it and those who gather to protest against vaccines – he says – But that’s how the things that I feel embittered “.
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by Viola Giannoli
The near-by bike accident
Mertcan crossed the patrol that was parking in Corso Moncalieri, just before Piazza Zara. “One of the carabinieri opened the door without looking, on the bike I wavered a bit even though he didn’t catch me – he says – I asked the soldier if he wasn’t used to looking before getting off, I just said this, then I went on but the car followed me and at the traffic light asked me to stop and show my documents “.
“I found the mask, fined anyway”
Mertcan gets off his bike and takes off his helmet: he should have a mask on foot (on February 8 it was still mandatory to wear it outdoors, if on foot) but he doesn’t have one. “I had forgotten it, I knew I had some at work and my mom would have bought more that day at the pharmacy, but I didn’t have any spare in my backpack, after all I never stop on the way between home and work”
On a scooter with a mask, on a bicycle without
Alessandra Ziniti
“I tried to explain it – it is still the story of the young worker – and first I went to a shop to ask for one, but it was a bakery and they didn’t have any, then I asked a gentleman who gave me one, but the fine it arrived anyway. It’s true, I didn’t have it, but I got it. I believe that things went like this because of what I said just before, when I almost fell “.
In the minutes he limited himself to declaring that he did not agree with the sanction. “But then I paid because with this money I help my family, I was afraid that making an appeal would cost me even more”.
The replica of the carabinieri
The carabinieri have reconstructed what happened: the tones of Mertcan, in front of the suddenly open door, would have been, according to the military, much more colorful, between offenses and insults, but above all, the Weapon frames the report in a normal activity of street check that had been organized with the specific intent of verifying compliance with anti Covid regulations.