Convict dies in Palermo, the funeral procession becomes a show

The funeral of a man convicted of attempted murder in Palermo turned into a demonstration with the throwing of firecrackers and a funeral procession with around a hundred people, preceded by roaring mopeds with drivers without helmets, in the pedestrian area of ​​the central Via Maqueda, while some shop shutters were closed.

Social media immortalized the scene, which saw many people scared, while tourists looked on in shock. The funeral procession had been organized for Emanuele Rubino, a 36-year-old sentenced in first instance to 12 years in prison for the attempted murder, in 2016, of a man who he had shot in the head, and who had received other sentences, including one of 9 and a half years for extortion from foreign traders.

Rubino, who died a few days ago from natural causes, had been under house arrest for over a year for health reasons. Family and friends accompanied the coffin along Via Maqueda and through the Ballarò market to the Carmine church, and only the intervention of the municipal police prevented the procession from continuing along the artery in the heart of the city, beyond the Quattro Canti. The images, with the scooters whizzing past the procession amid the din of firecrackers, were relaunched by numerous social media profiles.

The episode became a political case. Mayor Roberto Lagalla, while praising the intervention of the traffic police, who prevented "even more serious and unseemly scenes from being repeated, as unfortunately already happened on the occasion of other funerals in the past", underlined that "Palermo cannot accept that entire streets and parts of the city become the scene of behavior that fuels the perception among citizens of not being protected and not being able to live their neighborhoods freely".

From the opposition, the M5s national deputies Daniela Morfino, Valentina D'Orso and Davide Aiello have announced a question to the government. Because, even if "no one intends to deny the respect due to any person who loses their life nor the right of their loved ones to mourn their lost relative, these performances are typical messages of the mafia, dramatic celebrations of the deceased person for the role played in life".