The city of Messina is located in Sicily, on the coast of the strait that separates the island from the Italian mainland. Cateno De Luca is the mayor of the city of Messina — or he was until last week, when he resigned to protest the Green Pass, which requires Italians to be “vaccinated” in order to avail themselves of routine services, including public transport. Mr. De Luca spent the night at the dock of the ferry that runs from Messina to the mainland, to highlight the plight of unvaxed citizens who are no longer able to make the crossing.
The following video was recorded by former Mayor De Luca during his night at the ferry landing. Many thanks to HeHa for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes and RAIR Foundation for the subtitling:
Below is a brief article from ANSA about Mayor De Luca’s protest:
Messina Mayor Quits in Green Pass Protest
Spends night at ferry dock to protest pass for crossing strait
(ANSA) – ROME, JAN 17 – Messina Mayor Cateno De Luca on Monday filed his resignation to the city council in protest at the Green Pass COVID health certificate being required to board ferries across the strait to Sicily.
De Luca is continuing his protest at the ferry dock, where he spent the night in a tent.
De Luca, a centrist independent, was elected in June 2018. (ANSA).
Video transcript:
| 00:00 | Look at how the State treats the mayor of the thirteenth largest city in Italy. | |
| 00:07 | I am going to spend the night right here, at the bay of San Francesco. | |
| 00:13 | I peacefully occupied the Strait of Messina. | |
| 00:17 | Because I will not accept that the sacred freedom of movement | |
| 00:21 | within the territory of the state is being jeopardized by a law. | |
| 00:30 | A law that doesn’t even give people the time to be in compliance with it. | |
| 00:33 | For instance, the Sicilians who get vaccinated can’t still cross | |
| 00:38 | the Strait of Messina, because they need to wait for 15 to 20 days first. | |
| 00:44 | We have written so many times. Nobody replied. | |
| 00:49 | And that is how a mayor is supposed to protest against the State’s silence, | |
| 00:55 | since we are all hostages to the State. |
I biked through Messina and had coffee there, on a raw, rainy April day, while on a cycling trip around Sicily, around 2012. I love how the Italians talk and admire the spirit and eloquence of this former mayor. Same for Salvani, who should be running the country.