Rome Mayor Receives Bipartisan Support After Threat Over Demolition of Illegal Villas
Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri has vowed to continue his administration’s commitment to fighting the mafia after receiving a threat against him and his family on social media. The threatening message, which included a photo of a man brandishing a rifle, was posted after the city demolished two illegally built villas in a stronghold of mafia-style clans with Sinti origins.
The message read, “This is for the mayor and for his family – As you knocked down our house, I will knock down yours. Time will tell. The State does not scare me.” The intimidating message, which has since been cancelled, reportedly came from Silvio Hilic, one of the residents of the sumptuous villas demolished on Via Arzachena in the Rocca Cencia area to the east of Rome.
Police are investigating whether Hilic wrote the message himself from jail on an illegally obtained phone or whether someone else used his Facebook profile to post the threat. The threat against the centre-left mayor and his family was condemned across the political spectrum, with the mayor receiving widespread solidarity from the right-wing government.
Bipartisan Solidarity and Condemnation
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni slammed the “unacceptable intimidation”, while Deputy Premier Matteo Salvini and Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi also expressed solidarity with Gualtieri and condemned the threat. The leader of the centre-left Partito Democratico (PD), Elly Schlein, said her party “is at [Gualtieri’s] side and supports his courageous and determined work.” Nicola Franco, president of the Municipio VI city borough where the demolitions took place, said, “This extremely serious episode confirms how these individuals have dominated the area undisturbed for years. Enough is enough.”
Gualtieri stated, “The threats do not alter our commitment to fighting the mafia, upholding legality, and restoring to citizens spaces currently taken away from crime.” He added that his administration will continue, together with police and law enforcement agencies, “to work with determination to make Rome a safer and fairer city”.
Photo credit: Rocco Pettini / Shutterstock.com. For more information, read the full article Here