Thousands of people took part in amarch in Bari on Saturday to show solidarity with Mayor Antonio Decaro after the interior ministry launched an inspection of the Bari municipal administration for possible mafia infiltration.
The central government's move, linked to a judicial probe intoalleged political-mafia electoral deals in the 2019 local elections in which Decaro was re-elected for a second term, could lead to the dissolution of the city council.
Decaro, a member of the centre-left Democratic Party (PD), has lived under police escort since 2016 due to his anti-mafia activity in the Puglia regional capital.
He has said he would ditch his escort if even a whiff of wrongdoingtouched him or his administration of him.
He says the move by the centre-right central government is linked to June's local elections in the city.
"This is a wonderful response by the city, for the city," Decarotold the rally entitled 'Hands Off Bari'.
"It is a response to those who think they can use the city for their electoral campaign and it is, above all, a response to those who say that Bari is being blackmailed by the mafia" This city is no longer being blackmailed by anyone, neither by the mafia nor by politicians, because the city has become better every day over the last 20 years, with hard work every day.
"It has risen up, it has grown, it has recovered its dignity.
"Today it is proud to be what it has become"You don't trample over a city just for electoral calculations," Decaro added.
"You don't trample on the history of the people of Bari because you are afraid of losing an election campaign that you have been losing for 20 years, because they (the centre-right) have never had a project for the city".
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