“Honour to the Gaps”. The demonstration against La Russa in via Rasella

The hail of machine guns is still well imprinted on the building. When the walls were refreshed throughout the block on that building at the intersection of via Rasella and via del Boccaccio it was decided to leave the footprints of bullets, the footprints of history, of a story that, we would all have gladly spared ourselves, still causes discussion 80 years later. It was March 23, 1944, a group of very young gappisti (partisan armed groups), led by the then 22-year-old Rosario Bentivegna organizes an explosive attack against a Nazi company. 32 German soldiers die. Revenge is terrible: 10 Italians for every German killed, the Fosse ardeatine. “Via Rasella was not a glorious page of the Resistance, the partisans killed a band of South Tyrolean semi-retired people”. The words of the president of the Senate Ignazio La Russa in recent days have startled not only the opposition, but also many in his party. Until apologies. They weren’t enough. The left-green alliance yesterday organized in Rome a demonstration right in front of the still battered building. On the second floor, an American family visits an apartment. “Shall we buy it?”. Under two hundred people hold up a banner. “Honor to the Gap, now and always Resistance!”. Is it the 70s or 2023? Massimiliano Smeriglio, Pd MEP and strongman of the Roman left, wears the Anpi handkerchief with partisan pride. The green Angelo Bonelli attacks La Russa: “An apology is not enough, he must resign”. For the Democratic Party here is the Zingaretian senator Cecilia D’Elia and the deputy Andrea Casu. Calenda is not there, but the Third Pole has sent a delegation led by Luciano Nobili. On the other hand, there is no grillino with an existentialist crew neck, it’s too hot on the other hand.