Reggio Emilia September 14 “If they think they can scare us or make us change our minds, they are very wrong: in fact, they push us even more to continue our battles.” A harsh and decisive response from Paolo Montanari, singer of Mai Noi No, a tribute band to Nomadi well known in the Reggio area. The reply comes after the concert on Saturday evening in Casalgrande, during the fair. During the live performance, the band played their version of Bella Ciao, an explicit request from the organizers. However, at that moment the unthinkable happened: “An individual approached the stage and repeatedly made the ‘throat cutting’ gesture at me before walking away.”
The frontman Montanari: “We are evaluating how to act, we want to send a signal”
A moment that took the band by surprise, but they decided not to interrupt the concert and the audience present. “It was probably someone who was in an altered state, perhaps due to alcohol, but that does not change things.”
For Montanari, in fact, an episode like Saturday’s is not accidental, but would be the result of a climate of hatred that is becoming increasingly evident: “Those who commit these acts know they will go unpunished: physical and verbal violence has now been legitimized and no one says anything.”
Montanari cites as an example the gesture of Eterno, an activist of Futuro Nazionale, recently in the news after posting a video on social media in which he burned a copy of the Quran. “We are evaluating how to act, also together with the mayor and the Pro Loco, who organized the concert. We want to send a signal to ensure that episodes like this do not happen again.”
The mayor Daviddi: “Isolated and unjustifiable episode, which we firmly condemn”
Several messages of support for the band have arrived from the political world, starting with the mayor of Casalgrande, Giuseppe Daviddi: “I wish to express my full solidarity and that of the municipal administration to Mai Noi No and especially to Paolo for the gesture suffered. An isolated and unjustifiable episode, which we firmly condemn and which cannot find space in a community founded on respect, freedom of expression, and democratic values. The best response to any intimidation is precisely the one chosen by Mai Noi No: to keep playing. Because music, culture, and freedom will always be stronger than hate.”
Also, the opposition councilor of the Pd of Casalgrande, Matteo Balestrazzi, stands with the group: “What happened is very serious and unacceptable. I express my full solidarity with the band and Paolo. I hope that all political forces, from right to left, and all those who represent institutions know how to clearly condemn such a gesture. A civil and democratic community lives above all on differences, different opinions, discussions. But it does not accept and will never accept threats, intimidation, and the language of violence,” he writes on Facebook.
