The Euroleague match between Virtus Bologna and Maccabi Tel Aviv will be played on Friday at PalaDozza, despite the announced protest. This is a table of results in prefectures. “I expressed my refusal, but the prefect and the Ministry of the Interior reiterated to me that there are conditions for public order and respect for the safety of citizens to be able to carry it out. I can only note this,” said Mayor Matteo Lepore. The protests “are a grave and serious international problem, they must be handled with the head and not with muscles, the ministry has decided to handle it with muscles and take responsibility for it”, he added.
Matteo Lepore Mayor of Bologna
A challenge marked by fears of clashes and unrest after grassroots unions, Pro-Palestinian movements, collectives and associations have long announced their intention to block the expected appointment of the old and very central ‘Madison’ parquet floor in Piazza Azzarita. The race for Mayor of Bologna, Matteo Lepore, is to be held elsewhere. “You can’t turn the city upside down for a basketball game – he attacked -: Virtus-Maccabi must happen, but in another place and on a different date. I ask Minister Piantedosi to think again and in the Public Order Committee I will propose the move again to the prefect and the police commissioner”.
A match that, for the Minister of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi, can be played well at the famous stadium, repeating what had been stated last Friday on the sidelines of the Anci meeting, but adding that, if he really wanted to, Lepore “could also ban the match” considering that “a mayor is not without power”. If the Mayor – after taking note of the Executive’s choice – limited himself to asking “everyone that this event be managed in the best way, without violence and without clashes”, he is now back in office.
Minister Piantedosi
“My orders must be justified and must be shared in the Public Order Committee – he said -: In my opinion, there is no requirement to play next Friday, precisely because the city is at risk of major damage and costs that we cannot afford. Palazzo dello Sport – Lepore’s node – is in the historic center in the middle of construction sites, residents and shops that do not deserve violence and clashes”. Words that the head of the Ministry of the Interior – and former prefect of Bologna from 2017 to 2020 – sent back to the sender. “The game has already begun for us – he argued on the sidelines of the presentation of the 2026 firefighters’ calendar in Rome -: there is no reason why it should not be done. It is not groups of people who threaten violence that can dictate the agenda public events in any city.” After all, added Lepore, “he is mayor, he can also ban matches: a mayor is not without power. As far as we know – comments Piantedosi – his condition is ready to play the match”.
Last year, the Mayor of Bologna himself postponed by regulation – not without controversy – the Serie A football championship match between Bologna and Milan scheduled for ‘Dall’Ara’ on October 26 due to floods that hit the Emilia capital and flooded several areas including the stadium. On that occasion, the bad weather that brought the city to its knees caused sporting events to stop: different from the issue of public order which was widely discussed at that time.
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