With the hashtag #IOAPRO1501, thirty thousand businesses (mostly restaurants) co-ordinated a protest opening; people sitting in, in defiance of police and government lockdown rules. The mainstream media have not reported this at all.
Italian police attempted to fine attendees and owners, but there were simply too many to deal with. Restauranteurs were on Italian national news berating lockdown laws, and a number of Italian politicians have tweeted support. Police were booed as they entered premises.
Owners say that the regulations are killing their businesses and that something must be done.
7 replies on “30,000 Italian Restaurants open up as an act of defiance”
Stories like this give me hope.
I keep wondering how long it will be before Americans stand up en masse.
Or if they’ll remain on their knees forever.
Business owners in CO are scared, people in general are scared.
I get it, but we’ve been scared for over 10 months.
I watched a vid where the guy said the cure for rona is to turn off the TV. Yep.
I’m astonished this very thing didn’t happen in the good ol USA – right around May 1st – makes me sad so many Americans will do as their told, meekly and obediently.
Italians have always had a healthier relationship to their state and to their politicians.
They have a longer history of bad governments than Mexico, so their distrust of government is longer than their distrust of the Church.
I applaud their good sense and ability to learn from experience.
I saw a story once, I think it’s true, about an Italian’s reaction to American troops liberating the country in WW2. Went something like this:
American troops passed through a village after having liberated Italy. They were all smiling strutting as the people of the town lined the streets, cheering them. One soldier noticed an old man sitting in a chair on a porch, smoking a cigarette and not reacting to the celebration.
The soldier walked over to the man and asked,”Why aren’t you celebrating? We freed you! You don’t have to live under oppression any more. Isn’t that something to be happy about? Don’t you appreciate what we did for you?”
The old man replied, “My family has lived in this village since before the Roman empire. We have been here through empires and revolutions, invasions and peace, good leaders and bad leaders, famine and plenty. We were here through all that. And we will be here long after you’re gone.”
I love to this kind of stance against government hostility.
I’ll book the next flight to Rome!