On March 18, 2019 the prosecution of our 5 comrades for the events of the May 1st NO EXPO demonstration that too place in Milan, came to an end. The Italian court decided to cancel the trial on the basis that the 5 comrades have already been put on trial for the same offences by the Greek courts, thus they can’t be tried again for them.
The bosses and the local authorities of Milan, 10 years ago, decided to declare war on the poorer classes of the city by hosting the Expo for the needs of which they cemented thousands of acres of land, evicted social housing projects, commandeered workers’ strikes and more. Since the beginning, the people of the city reacted vigorously. They took to the street together, workers, women, young and old, resisting the (further) depreciation of their lives. They shouted and demanded that this Expo would not take place!
Six months after the demonstration of May 1st, 2015 against the provocative opening of the Expo, the Italian justice pressed charges against 10 protesters. This machination for the sake of the Expo was intended to disorient the public opinion away from the scandals and its disastrous consequences, to terrorize anyone who had demonstrated on the street that day.
A wide solidarity movement emerged in Greece and Italy against these machinations. Today, 3.5 years after the prosecutions began, the courts have not managed to convict a single protester on the notorious “desolation and sacking” charge. The 4 Italian comrades are free (in the immediate future the 5th Italian will be also put to trial) while the trial of our 5 comrades has been canceled!
The Italian state has totally failed in its chase against the movement. After a media campaign of lies and propaganda that presented the protesters as terrorists and the Expo as the “mother of growth”, it has been clearly proven (after the revelations of scandals regarding money laundering and the convictions of the contractors involved) that the only one truly responsible for desolating and sacking the city is the Expo.
After 3.5 years of struggle against these prosecutions, we come to the conclusion that only solidarity can defeat repression. It was through relationships of trust and common struggle that we managed to put a stop to the unprecedented plans of the prosecuting authorities. This ending made us even more certain that it is only through vivid communities of struggle that those that seem “invincible” can be defeated.
On May 1st we were all there!
Solidarity with the 5th Italian co-defendant who was arrested in Toulouse, has been extradited to Italy and is detained pending trial.
Strength to the comrades of the base committee for housing from Giambellino (Milan) who are being prosecuted on “criminal organization” charges. #iomiassocio
Comrades that participated in the Mayday demo in Milanagainst the international EXPO 2015
April ‘19
(via Athens Indymedia)
