The funerals of earthquake
victims from Amatrice will be held in their Lazio village at
18:00 Tuesday after a planned move the provincial capital Rieti
was nixed, Amatrice Mayor Sergio Pirozzi said after a protest by
survivors.
He said he had spoken with Premier Matteo Renzi.
Quake survivors in a tent camp at Amatrice earlier
protested against a decision to move tomorrow's mass funeral
from the Lazio village to the airport in the provincial capital
of Rieti.
"We won't come to Rieti, give us our dead back," they said.
"Rieti must come to us, not us go to them," one elderly man
told civil protection officials.
Local priest Father Fabio said "I'm not going to Rieti,
I'll celebrate (the funerals) here, we mustn't go to Rieti."
Another man said: "It's a painful decision for us too".
The 6.2-magnitude August 24 quake killed 290 people.
Amatrice was by far the worst hit village with 229 killed.
It is "right" to hold funerals for the earthquake victims
of Amatrice in Amatrice rather than in the provincial capital of
Rieti where they had been briefly moved before a citizens'
protest, Premier Matteo Renzi said on Twitter.
"The funerals of the victims of the #earthquake will be
held in Amatrice as the mayor and the local community have
asked. And as is right!" he tweeted.
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