The local government of the Italian city of Trieste has banned all anti-vaccine passport protests at a central city square, claiming they could lead to higher Wuhan virus infection rates.
The move to ban protests at the square was made by mayor Roberto Di Piazza and Prefect Valerio Valenti, who linked a recent increase in the number of coronavirus cases to the protests against the vaccine passport, known in Italy as the Green Pass.
“Those who violate this ban will be punished” with significant fines, Mayor De Piazza warned, while Prefect Valenti claimed that “the right to health prevails over the right to demonstrate,” newspaper Il Giornale reports.
Valenti said that the right to demonstrate at the Piazza Unità d’Italia would be banned until December 31st, and addressed the anti-vaccine passport protestors with the dubious claim that “You are free to do what you want, not to vaccinate, but leave others free.”
Mayor Di Piazza stated that Trieste was approaching enough new coronavirus cases to be transferred into the “yellow zone” in Italy’s colour-coded lockdown system, which would see regional restrictions imposed.
“We are close to the yellow zone. It is a very serious moment in which there is no longer respect for the rules, now that’s enough. I will ask for compliance with the rules and I will do it even at the limit of the law,” Di Piazza threatened.
According to epidemiologist Fabio Barbone, head of the Friuli Venezia Giulia task force, a total of 93 people who participated in the anti-vaccine passport protests have tested positive for the coronavirus.
Trieste has seen a number of protests against the Green Pass, which became mandatory in all workplaces on October 15th, including a major protest by dockworkers in the city.
Dockworkers and their allies held protests blocking activity at the docks for a number of days before dozens of riot police fired tear gas and water cannons to clear them.
Some Italian unions have also expressed displeasure with the Green Pass, as it forces unvaccinated workers who have not previously had the coronavirus to pay out of their own pockets for tests — a policy described by a union official as being made to pay to work.
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