Italy returns to the streets today for the 77th anniversary of the Liberation, after two years of celebrations conditioned by Covid.
This time massive presences are expected in many cities, but there is the shadow of the war in Ukraine to divide the minds.
In
Milan
there will be the traditional national demonstration of the Anpi and the president Gianfranco Pagliarulo - accused of pro-Russian positions and critical of the sending of weapons to Kiev - reiterated the "condemnation without ifs and buts of the invasion by the Putin's army and the recognition of legitimate Ukrainian resistance ".
In
Rome
However, the partisan associations that do not adhere to the Anpi will make their own alternative initiative with the slogan: 'Celebrating the Liberation is siding with the Kiev resistance'.
Law enforcement officers alerted throughout the territory to avoid the triggering of provocations and unrest.
In Turin, 8 plaques indicating Corso Unione Sovietica were damaged during the night, a probable demonstration against the invasion of Ukraine on the eve of 25 April.
Pagliarulo will be in
Milan
for the procession that will depart from Porta Venezia from 2 pm to reach Piazza Duomo.
Also present - among others - the mayor, Giuseppe Sala, the secretary of the CGIL Maurizio Landini and the Jewish Brigade, which in controversy with the Anpi had proposed to parade with NATO flags.
Two Ukrainian women will also speak from the stage: Tetyana Bandelyuk, who has lived in Italy for some time, and Iryna Yarmolenko, refugee and city councilor of Bucha, a city that has become a symbol of civilian killings.
"No one - said the president of the Anpi, speaking at the Article One congress - knows where the Ukraine affair will lead, but in this void that we will fill day by day the attempt to delegitimize the Association is already clear: 'you are Putinians , indeed Pagliarulo is Putinian, let's dissolve the Anpi. ”We do not answer.
The president also agreed on the parallel between the Ukrainian and Italian resistance: "There is no doubt. It is clear that any resistance in the event of war becomes military resistance. We have recognized the right of peoples to defend themselves from invasions".
And he invited to put aside the controversy: "tomorrow will be a huge and peaceful demonstration".
In
Rome
the Anpi will parade from 10 between Largo Bompiani and Porta San Paolo, a symbol of the Roman Resistance.
Other associations of partisans Fiap, Anpc, Fivl, Aned, Anfim and Ukrainians in Italy, with the adhesion of + Europa e Action, instead organized a demonstration at 9.30 in Piazza di Torre Argentina to celebrate "the resistance of that time and that Ukraine today ".
There will also be the president of the Jewish Community of Rome Ruth Dureghello.
At 10.30, as usual, the leaders of the Community will then visit Via Tasso, where, according to what we learn, the mayor of Rome Roberto Gualtieri will also be present.
Double event of the Radical Party: at 11 demonstration "Thank you USA for freeing us from fascism. Freedom for Ukraine and for the Russian people" near the US Embassy in Italy,
in Piazza Barberini.
At 4 pm "A Republic founded ... on the Fascist penal code" in Piazza dei Santi Apostoli for the overcoming of the Rocco Code.
While the Italian Radicals from 10.30, at the headquarters in via Angelo Bargoni, organized the conference 'An April 25 also for Ukraine'.
Like every year, moreover, the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, will lay a laurel wreath on the tomb of the unknown soldier at 9 and the tricolor arrows will fly over the capital.
In
Genoa
the 71 members of the Ukrainian National People's Choir 'G.
Veryovka ', who arrived in Italy aboard two buses from Warsaw, will perform in a concert at the Carlo Felice Opera House.
