That there would be tensions at the May Day march in Turin was predictable. The divisive theme of the war in Ukraine has been crossing the souls of the Turin left for weeks with controversies that have also involved the Anpi, but in so many years of demonstrations it has never happened that the procession broke up. But today it happened.
After the clashes between the police and the social segment, the fund of the parade that has always gathers the most contested soul of the participants together with the social centers, a counter rally was set up in via Roma. In contrast, even physically, with respect to the official rally in Piazza San Carlo, an area where the social segment has not been allowed to enter for years for fear of disputes and the reason, always, of violent clashes with the police.
It is around noon when Angelo D’Orsi, academic and former candidate for mayor of Turin for the left-wing left, gets on an improvised stage and the counter-rally begins. He calls for a general strike against the war. Immediately after, another important figure rises: Gastone Cottino, 97, partisan and professor of commercial law. «We have to hold on – the crowd harangued – Here they want to question constitutional principles. May Day belongs to everyone, but at almost a hundred years old I rebel. We are against war and for peace ». Meanwhile, under the arcades of Via Roma, the police are removed from the demonstrators.
The clashes
And it is thus, with a double stage and a double rally, that the souls of the Turin left also plastically arrived at this May Day. There was no lack of clashes, like every year. They take place at 11.30 when in via Roma at the height of via Cesare Battisti Tensions break out between the social segment and the police. The demonstrators try, using the sticks of flags and banners, to break through the police cordon to reach the institutional stage. The police respond with charges. “Gradually the police”, “Shame”, yell from the procession. The protest had been announced on social media in recent days by the Askatasuna social center and the Communist Youth Front. War is always a crime. Whoever is speaking at the moment in Piazza San Carlo is an accomplice. Let us pass ».
Charges on the May Day procession in Turin: the video of the clashes
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Riders kept out of the procession
Shortly before, skirmishes with the police had already broken out, but this time not with the social segment. At about 10.50 am the riders had objected to the passage of the mayor. But for the police, protesters and “targets” were too close, so they got in the way. Inside the parade, two souls also clashed between those who wanted to let the riders into the parade and those who wanted them out to avoid tensions.
Departure with the stop
The procession, which started at 9.45 from Piazza Vittorio Veneto, as usual, had immediately had a hitch. Ten minutes after the human column had started towards Piazza San Carlo, everyone was already at a standstill. In via Roma someone had forgotten to remove the huge flower boxes on either side of the road. A danger for the procession and for the fear of protests against the Democratic Party and the unions by the most heated sections of the procession. Groomed by the mayor, Stefano Lo Russo. The public green rushes into the street and the large vessels are moved, all without safety devices. Not quite the best for the work day.
The flower boxes that blocked the May 1st march in Turin: the video of the removal
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Meanwhile, behind, the procession proceeds very slowly. A via crucis, more than a procession.
The first parade after Covid
This is the first May Day march after two years of pandemic. A particular anniversary with the war in Ukraine unleashed by the Russian invasion that brings with it death and destruction, millions of refugees and an increase in economic uncertainty for millions of families in Italy. “To work for peace” is the slogan chosen by the unions to mobilize workers. Many responded to the appeal. In the procession also the mayor of Turin, Stefano Lo Russo, the regional councilor for productive activities, Andrea Tronzano and many first citizens. Then the banner of the Anpi, the trade union representatives. There are those who parade with the flags of Ukraine. Massive presence of the police in riot gear and in civilian clothes for fear of disputes against the Democratic Party and the trade union positions on the ongoing conflict.
The mayor of Turin, Stefano Lo Russo: “We are working for world peace but also for social peace in Italy, the first emergency is safety in the workplace but it is also necessary to increase wages”.
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