"In addition to memory, there is also a need not to transfer to the present day the contrasts, conflicts and deep divisions that no longer have reason to exist." This was stated by the President of the Senate, Ignazio La Russa, in Milan, on the occasion of the commemoration of Sergio Ramelli, an 18-year-old member of the Youth Front who on April 29, 1975 was killed by a group of militants of Avanguardia Operaia.
A wreath in memory of Sergio Ramelli was laid by the mayor, Giuseppe Sala, in the presence of the president of the Senate, Ignazio La Russa. In the gardens named after the student, considered a victim of the years of Lead, the second charge of the State took the opportunity to invite to "national pacification" thanks to a message inspired by the writing on the log that La Russa photographed and showed to reporters from his mobile phone: "In memory of the young Sergio Ramelli - he read aloud -, in the name of a national pacification that unites in a single piety all the innocent victims of our history as a warning to future generations".
The flowers were laid by Mayor Sala, a gesture that made La Russa "very happy". "Reconciliation means a lot - said the mayor -, we must be able on all sides to implement it. It is normal, right and also beautiful that politics is divided and sees things differently, but the confrontation must be on the basis of non-violence and respect for the words of others". A point of view, this, on which the mayor cannot "but support what the president of the Senate says, that a way must be found to reconcile this country".
La Russa - who had already participated as a senator of the Brothers of Italy in the commemoration last year together with Giorgia Meloni not yet prime minister and Sala - was asked to comment on the Roman greeting that every April 29 is made by far-right militants at the evening procession that develops in memory of Sergio Ramelli. "I do not answer - he said -, today is Sergio Ramelli's day and this is not a press conference".
At the end of the ceremony there was a brief moment of tension, when a protester began shouting "Fascists at home" and "Long live April 25". Insulted by various participants present at the gardens, the woman was removed shortly after and the commemoration ended in a quiet atmosphere.
In the evening the procession organized by far-right militants, including the National Movement, Casapound and Loyalty-Action in memory of Carlo Borsani, Ramelli and Pedenovi, will be repeated again this year, starting from Piazzale Gorini. On April 29, the demonstrators arrived in Via Paladini, under Ramelli's house, and made the rite of the "present" with the three Roman greetings.
In the afternoon, however, an anti-fascist demonstration began in Piazzale Dateo, organized by the ANPI to remember the communist militant Gaetano Amoroso stabbed on April 27, 1976 and died three days later.
To those who asked the mayor if even today, as every year, on April 29, the city is divided, he replied: "Yes, it is quite evident that a little is like that. I am also in contact with the quaestor and the prefect - he added -, with the hope that nothing serious will happen".