(Translated from TPI) A group of activists from Amnesty International have been identified and filed by the police for having displayed a banner in memory of Giulio Regeni during a rally held in Ivrea. The Minister of the Interior had said that it is essential to have good relations with Egypt.
The Italian Minister of Interior Matteo Salvini was in town to support the centre-right candidate Stefano Sertoli in the run-up to the municipal elections. The activists unrolled the manifesto near the venue and were stopped by the Minister’s security police.
“The police did not let us close to the stage and we could only display the banner in an area far from the stage,” the activists explain.
“We also asked to be able to approach journalists without the banner but they did not allow us.
One of the activists said:
“They stopped us, took photos for us, asked for documents and filed us. A girl wearing Amnesty’s t-shirt was not allowed to get closed and, when she asked for explanations, they threatened to take her away”.
The episode may be the cause of the Minister of the Interior’s statement on the Regeni case a few days earlier.
Matteo Salvini, in fact, had declared that, although he understood the request for justice of Giulio Regeni’s family, he intended to rebuild good relations with Egypt.
The statement was made in an interview with the newspaper Corriere della Sera.
“We want to rebuild good relations with Egypt. I fully understand the request for justice made by Giulio Regeni’s family. But for us, for Italy, it is essential to have good relations with an important country like Egypt,” said Salvini in an interview with Corriere della Sera.
Matteo Salvini’s current positions on the murder of the young researcher who died in mysterious surroundings in Egypt have changed. In April 2016, for example, the leader of the League had said that Egypt was making fun of Italy and that the Italian government had not shown sufficient determination to investigate the matter.
Featured image via TPI