The fans of Spal's Curva Ovest announce in a long and harsh note that they have decided to cancel the choreography scheduled for the Spal-Vianese half-time match on 27 September, the match closest to the 21st anniversary of Federico Aldrovandi's death, following the stoppage of their initiative to remember the young man from Ferrara who died in 2005.
The fans had organized a choreography and also the reading of some sentences that children from a primary school in the city had written last year in memory of the 18 year old who died on 25 September 2005 during a police intervention, following which four officers were convicted. “For the message to be even more authentic, the sentences would have been read in the middle of the field by the children”. But as the curve reports, "the sentences were not appreciated by the Ferrara Police Headquarters and therefore the entire initiative was forbidden to us". And the mediation of the football club, through the general manager Marcel Bonnici, would have been of no use. “The Police Commissioner of Ferrara – writes the curve – stated as a reason that the sentences instigated violence and that he would have taken measures hindering individual freedom if the reading had taken place”.
The fans ask themselves: "Why is the memory of Federico Aldrovandi still scary after 21 years? Why is it banned in a civil state where freedom of speech should be guaranteed, even to a child?". And so the announcement: "We have made the drastic decision to cancel the choreography planned for the egg", the historic brand that the company has regained possession of. “We are in fact not willing to sacrifice our thoughts, our ideals, our freedom on the altar of typhoid”.
Father Lino: "There has always been respect for the institutions"
During the night, the words of Federico's father, Giuliano "Lino" Aldrovandi, arrive. "We're still at the same time, you're still bothering us", he writes in an open letter to his son, in which he reports the sentences written by the children who were stopped by the Estense Police Headquarters, such as: "I would give you my hand and run away as hard as possible.", "I would defend you and take you home to your parents", "I would help you scream at the top of my voice and say: stop! Leave him alone". "From reading the children's thoughts I do not notice, except perhaps in one word, this recognized violence", comments Aldrovandi.
“No one, least of all me, has ever pointed the finger at the police institution, God forbid,” writes Lino, who wore a uniform himself as a local police officer. "In these long 21 years my 'extended family' as I use to say, from the many realities of this society, no less from that of the ultras, in this case from the dear boys of the Curva Ovest, has always demonstrated in the sad story of Federico, that it has respect for the institutions, without exception, and that it has always acted in compliance with the rules and the laws, without ever generalizing. A simple concept, but one that seems not to have made inroads into the minds and hearts of its controllers", adds the father. "Dear Federico, there was really no need for this stiffening, and it's as if a wound had reopened with all its blood and pain. Thank you Police Headquarters (?). Thank you Lega calcio dilettanti (?) A hug to the Curva Ovest".
