Italian anti-vaxxers posted death
threats against Foreign Minister and 5-Star Movement (M5S)
bigwig Luigi Di Maio in Telegram chat rooms on Tuesday.
"Another rat to be executed", "we need lead", and "you must
die", were some of the messages.
Di Maio is among those who have become the target of anti-vax
hate after statements in favour of Italy's vaccine rollout.
He said this week "the whole political spectrum, and more, must
condemn the violence we are seeing on the part of the so-called
No Vax, who are protesting in unacceptable forms.
"I appeal to all political forces too: you must not fuel the
flames".
Rightwing leaders like the League's Matteo Salvini have said
that while they condemn violence, they understand the
anti-vaxxers' anger and no one should be forced to get the COVID
jab.
There have been a number of violent protests and other incidents
involving anti-vaxxers in Italy recently.
On Sunday night a top virologist, Matteo Bassetti, was accosted
by a 46-year-old man who has been cited for issuing serious
threats.
The man reportedly came across Bassetti in the street and
started following him, filming him on his phone and shouting at
him: "You're going to kill all of us with these vaccines and
we're going to make you pay".
Bassetti, an expert in infectious diseases at Genoa's San
Martino Hospital, appears regularly on Italian TV and urges
people to get the COVID jab.
Police said Tuesday that eight people had been cited for
social-media threats against Bassetti over the last few months.
Meanwhile in Rome, a video journalist from La Repubblica daily
was attacked by a protester at an anti-Green Pass sit-in outside
the Education Ministry.
There have been several protests against the vaccine passport,
which will become obligatory for domestic air and long-distance
rail travel, as well as schools, on Wednesday.
Bassetti told ANSA: "I ask for the State's protection vis a vis
people who threaten, I should like the State to punish these
people. "I don't want escorts, I want the State to punish people
who threaten.
"I've been threatened since December, since the vaccine came
out: first anonymous letters, then threats by phone in the
clinic and at my wife's hotel, it's been continuous".
The interior ministry said the right to protest was guaranteed
in Italy, but not that to make threats.
Trade unions came out against the anti-Green Pass protest
movement Tuesday by saying they were firmly against trains being
blocked by anti-vax passengers who did not have the passport on
them.
"The risks inherent in such a protest are evident and measures
must be taken to protect users and staff," said the unions,
Filt-Cgil, Fit-Cisl and Uiltrasporti.
"Freedom of transport is a Constitutional right and those
blocking it in the name of the supposed right not to be
vaccinated should be punished by the law".
They said "we hope there will be a rethink about these
protests".
Interior Undersecretary Carlo Sibilia said anyone blocking rail
circulation Wednesday would be committing a crime and "we will
have to be intransigent on this".
There are set to be a rash of demonstrations against the Green
Pass in 54 Italian cities Wednesday.
Social media have been inundated with the slogan "Enough
dictatorships".
Another popular post was "if they don't let us leave without the
slavery passport the no one is leaving".
The Green Pass is already compulsory for gyms, swimming pools,
cinemas, restaurants and other indoor venues.
Ahead of the introduction of the mandatory Green Pass in
schools, officials said Tuesday that schools can hire people to
inspect the vaccine passport and use more than one access point
to the buildings.
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