(ANSA) - ROME, OCT 18 - President Sergio Mattarella urged people Monday to fight an "antiscientic drift which is blocking the future and bringing everything back to the past" in Italy, referring to the anti-vax movement, saying that "we owe a lot to science".
"The vaccines are a feather in the cap of science, let's not forget that out of respect for the dead," he told students and teachers at the inauguration of the academic year at Pisa University.
Referring to recent violent incidents, Mattarella said they aroused "surprise and dismay".
He said "they seem to want to obstruct the country's recovery, which instead must be carried towards a successful end." Mattarella referred to "violent acts of aggressive protest".
A neo-fascist-led mob ransacked the headquarters of Italy's biggest and mos leftwing trade union during an anti-vax protest in Rome two weeks ago. (ANSA).
Fight anti-science drift says Mattarella
"We owe a lot to science" says Italian president