Bologna, the Cassero against homophobic attacks: "No to repressive policies"

BOLOGNA - "We don't expect the solutions to come from Piantedosi. We want our city to take an open stand against violence, against racism and alongside all minorities." Cassero speaks after the three homophobic attacks recorded in Bologna in less than three weeks, "right in the center against queer people walking down the street in the company of friends or their partner". And he attacks the government: "We don't need more police on the streets, more red zones and a repressive security project, which is instead the recipe of Piantedosi, signatory of 5 security decrees that challenge our constitutional principles."

The one from the LGBTQIA+ community center in Bologna is an appeal to the mayor Matteo Lepore in light of the reaction of the Brothers of Italy to the three episodes. Fratelli d'Italia "presented a council question to express instrumental solidarity with the queer community, which is often the target of the government party's policies, as well as attacks at city level". For Cassero "the only objective of this stance is to point out the Muslim community and immigration as responsible for the climate of hatred that queer people experience first hand. We are nauseated by this hypocrisy and we reject the short-sighted and obtuse reading that FdI proposes: it is not foreign people who represent a danger for us, but the policies of our national government".

And hence the appeal "to the mayor and city institutions to forcefully and clearly reject this vision". "If the municipal administration wants to respond to the needs of the community, it must guarantee more spaces for activities, projects, sociality, meeting and exchange. Safety for all is achieved through the creation of communities, through meeting and creating bonds between cultures and valorising differences". And again: "Stoking fear and divisions, increasing control and repression, creating a scapegoat among the most marginalized people will not solve the problem of violence. Reducing inequalities and working so that everyone can feel like citizens in the same way promotes a climate of coexistence and respect".