Bologna, July 27, 2026 – Mayor Matteo Lepore will not change his scheduled agenda. Despite having been assigned a police escort yesterday, the mayor has made it known that he intends to continue his work for the city of Bologna and carry out all his commitments planned for the coming days. An agent of the Guardia di Finanza, since yesterday, has been following him to all appointments and movements, both public and private. The activation came after Mayor Lepore received several death threats on social media, as well as via email and private communications. A dangerous hatred, stemming from some political and communicative choices following the death of Abderrahim Fakir, who died during a police intervention at Pilastro, led him to report the facts and intimidations to the police headquarters. Hence the Prefecture’s decision to activate personal protection measures for him.
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“When a mayor is forced to live under protection due to received threats, the free exercise of democratic institutions and the very principle of the rule of law is under attack,” immediately said Enrico Di Stasi, provincial secretary of the Pd Bologna, expressing solidarity and closeness to the mayor. A message also came from Pd deputy Andrea De Maria: “Enough with hatred, violence, and over-the-top tones.”
Violent past
In Bologna, a mayor also ended up under escort in 2005. It was the case of Sergio Cofferati. A violent past in the city that recalls Senator Pier Ferdinando Casini, citing Francesco Lorusso, a student killed by the carabinieri during a demonstration in 1977. “Even during the dramatic days of 1977, culminating in the killing of Francesco Lorusso in Bologna, our city’s mayor Renato Zangheri and the Minister of the Interior Francesco Cossiga found a way to collaborate for the good of the institutions,” says Casini.
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The closeness of the Democratic Party
From within the Democratic Party, however, solidarity and closeness have been total. “Very serious and completely unacceptable threats. Our full solidarity and closeness go to him and his family,” says the President of the Region Michele de Pascale. “They can assign an escort, but we won’t leave Lepore alone,” explains former Pd secretary Pier Luigi Bersani. Along the same lines, former regional president Stefano Bonaccini: “Enough with this climate of intolerance, hatred, and violence. Go Matteo, you know you’re not alone.” “Differences in ideas can never turn into violence,” adds the regional Pd secretary Luigi Tosiani. Closeness to Lepore also came from MEPs Annalisa Corrado and Alessandro Zan, from former regional councilor Emma Petitti, municipal councilor Daniele Ara, deputies Stefano Vaccari and Gianni Cuperlo, the mayor of Imola and regional Anci president Marco Panieri, regional councilors Irene Priolo and Gessica Allegni, and the president of the regional legislative assembly Maurizio Fabbri.
5 Star Movement and Italia Viva
From the broader front, the 5 Star Movement also expressed solidarity with senators Marco Croatti and Gabriele Lanzi, and Giulia Sarti, delegate for democratic legality and the fight against mafias for the Municipality: “The threats are an attack on democracy, now everyone should lower their tones.” Italia Viva, with Marco Mingrone, president of Italia Viva Metropolitan City, and his deputies Marco Battiato and Rosalino Bove, also expresses closeness to Lepore: “A very serious and unacceptable act. On episodes of this nature, condemnation must be unanimous, cross-party, and without hesitation.”
