MIRANDOLA – The National Association of Partisans of Italy (ANPI) refused to speak at a Liberation Day parade in Mirandola, a town near Modena, due to the presence of the right-wing Northern League and participants' fascist-era clothing, according to Il Fatto Quotidiano newspaper. 

 Mirandola was the selected town for this year's Column of Freedom parade, a historic Italian tradition since Italy’s liberation in 1945 that features a reenactment of the Second World War with original and restored military vehicles. The tradition visits different locations across Italy each year on its Liberation Day.  

 There were over 120 military vehicles present in Tuesday’s parade, along with 400 participants, some of whom were dressed in Nazi and Social Republic uniforms. 

 “We do not agree with a large part of this event,” said ANPI, after being invited to speak in Piazza Costituente. “We still thank those who wanted to participate in the celebrations of April 24, which has a value that goes beyond any controversy.” 

 Since 1945, ANPI has been known for its resistance against fascism, while the Northern League is a historically right-wing, conservative political party that first emerged in 1989. The mayor of Mirandola, Alberto Greco, is a member of the party.

 ANPI stated that they attended the event “out of respect for democratic institutions, to remember our martyrs and to celebrate liberation,” but they did not attend the start of the Column of Freedom. 

 “It seems highly inappropriate and offensive against all our martyrs, to have individuals who represent the perpetrators of abuses, injustices, tortures, deaths, and massacres parade and triumphantly enter Mirandola,” an ANPI spokesperson said. 

 Some members of Italy Democratic Party spoke out against the event as well. 

 Stefano Vaccari, member of Italy's Chamber of Deputies, called it “inappropriate and disrespectful” that participants wore fascist-era uniforms on a day in which the country should “pay tribute to the human sacrifice of women and men who have given us democracy and freedom back” 

 Andrea De Maria, also a member of the Chamber of Deputies, took ANPI’s side as well, hoping that “a method of celebrating April 25 will be restored so that it corresponds to the meaning of this day.”

jd