Family minister abandons speech due to protests

(ANSA) - ROME, MAY 9 - Family and Equal Opportunities Minister Eugenia Roccella on Thursday abandoned a speech she was about to give at a conference in Rome on reversing Italy's declining birth rate after being targetted by protesters at the event.
    When Roccella took the floor, members of the audience raised letters to form the word: "I decide". The Italian government recently passed a measure to allow pro-life activists access to abortion clinics.
    After the protest erupted, organizers of the States General of Natality conference allowed a representative of the protesters to speak.
    But when Roccella tried to continue her speech, she was shouted down and so she decided to stop.
    The minister expressed anger at the way she was treated afterwards and chided the centre-left opposition, suggesting she did not expect it to condemn what had happened.
    "I am certain that PD (Democratic Party) Secretary Elly Schlein, the entire left, the intellectuals...- will have unequivocal words of solidarity for me after the act of censorship that I was subjected to this morning," Roccella said in a Facebook post.
    "The 'great press'... will have unequivocal words of solidarity with me after the act of censorship that this morning prevented me from speaking at the States General organised by the Foundation for Natality to give my speech and also to respond to the protester-censors and to debate with them".
    Speaking to ANSA before leaving the event, Roccella said the protests were not just targetting her and the government but the whole issue of trying to boost the birth rate.
    "I left to keep that conference panel discussion going," she said, adding that she had stayed on stage for two hours when she faced similar flak recently in Turin, but stressing that on the occasion "the protest was directed only at me.
    "'I did so out of respect for the others (taking part), thinking that the protesters would leave in my absence and that is what happened and the others were able to continue," she said.
    "The protest was not just against the government, but against the issue of (boosting) the birth rate, as shown by the booing the eight-month pregnant mother who was on stage with me was subjected to (ANSA).