Comforted by the latest opinion polls indicating the willingness of half of Italians in favor of the immediate start of peace negotiations, a vast demonstration of over 50,000 people marched through the streets of Rome, launching chants of support for the attacked Ukraine mixed to slogans in favor of prioritizing diplomacy to stop a war that has lasted nine months since Russia launched the invasion on March 24.
The march started from Plaza de la República, near the Terminal train station and went around the historic center, passed the Colosseum and reached the Plaza de San Juan de Letrán, next to the cathedral of the Pope Bishop of Rome.
Catholic movements close to Pope Francis, starting with the Community of Sant’Egidio, promoted the parade, with the support of the three main trade unions and over 300 social organizations.
The biggest political protagonist of the march was the leader of the 5 Star Movement and twice Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, who challenged the defense minister of the new government. “You shouldn’t carry out a new arms shipment to Ukraine without going through a parliamentary debate,” Conte said.
Also present was the head of the center-left Pd Enrico Letta, considered the big loser in the political elections of 25 September, won by the far-right leader Giorgia Meloni, head of the government for a week.
It was not a march against the government, but in favor of giving a boost to the strategy of favor diplomacy as much as possiblewhich appears to be in crisis, in order to promote a ceasefire and facilitate the start of peace negotiations.
A survey by the prestigious SWG institute showed that 46% of Italians are willing to concede to the Russians a part of the territorial conquests that President Vladimir Putin obtained with the invasion, in exchange for the consolidation of a peace agreement.
War and energy crisis
The march comes amid the growing difficulties in Europe in a winter that is colder because of the restrictions on the supply of energy products. Their prices have risen so much that, for example, on Friday Italy announced that in the rest of this year and in 2023 it will pay out € 30 billion in aid to families and businesses to cope with rising gas bills. electricity and household products. petroleum products.
In Piazza San Juan, a letter from the president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, whose presence in Italy is growing and who is cited as the favorite successor of Pope Francis, 85, which evoked a non-immediate resignation.
“Peace is essential, as lacking as air,” Zuppi wrote in his message. “Dear friend, I am happy that you are on the march for peace, whatever your age. Together free from war! As brothers we are afraid in a violent and warlike world and for this we cannot stand still. How many die dramatically as a result of the war! The dead are not statistics but people. There is no time to waste because time means more deaths ”, said the cardinal of Bologna.
In his message, the president of the Italian bishops said that “Pope Francis, with great insistence, asked to stop the war, we ask the President of the Russian Federation (Vladimir Putin) to stop this spiral of violence, also for his love. people. And we ask the President of Ukraine to be open to serious proposals for peace “.
Groups of Ukrainian refugees in Italy, dressed in the yellow-blue colors of their homeland, sang the national anthem of their country several times during the march and in Piazza Laterano, applauded by the crowd.
An enormous flag fifty meters long, used in the marches of Assisi, “the city of peace”, land of San Francisco, was carried by groups of boy scouts and pacifist organizations.
The march was attended by many mayors of neighboring municipalities, whose mayor was the head of popular representatives.
In a statement by the three Italian labor centers together with the authoritative Community of Sant’Egidio, it was highlighted: “We condemn the aggressor, we respect the Ukrainian resistance and we are committed to helping, supporting and helping the Ukrainian people, we are together with the victims and to those who reject the logic of war and choose non-violence ”.
The leader of the Democratic Party, Enrico Letta, said that “peace implies the end of the Russian invasion and this is the central point”.
In turn, Maurizio Landini, leader of the CGIL, the largest Italian workers’ union, said that “our appeal for peace is addressed to all political forces, not just the left. We can have diversity and be united, we want to unite the country, not divide it “.
Rome, correspondent
CB
Source: Clarin
