ROME - In an interview with Il Messaggero, mayor of Rome Virginia Raggi insisted her administration is working on improving Rome’s ragged appearance, and accused the Democratic Party (Pd) of being “impatient.” Her comments come in light of a mass protest, held in Piazza del Campidoglio on Oct. 27, against her administration and failure to uphold 2016 campaign promises. As many as 10,000 people reportedly turned out to express their disgust at the sorry state of the capital. 

 With regards to her recent dismissal of protestors as the “old guard of the Pd” and “orphans of the Mafia Capitale”, Raggi said, “the Pd, orphans of the Mafia Capitale, have subtly tried to take advantage of citizens, disguising a party campaign demonstration as a political revolt.”

 Yet in response to the interviewer’s comment that some of the protestors voted for her in 2016, she said, “I don’t differentiate between electors. I am the Mayor of all Romans, and must always listen to what they have to say, even if there are matters we don’t agree on.”

 With regards to the degraded state of the capital’s streets, the mayor said, “We are confronting the problem. No one is brushing it under the carpet as they did before.”

 She claims her administration are making good progress. “Every day I work at making the city a better place. We have dedicated 140 million euros to the refurbishment of the city’s streets, and there are now construction sites throughout the city. With regards to waste, we have extended ‘door-to-door’ collection to 150 thousand residents in less than eight months and have discovered that, in two municipalities alone, there are 120 thousand people who have not been paying Ama, Rome’s waste disposal company. The impatience of the Pd is hiding an obvious political challenge they have been facing.”

 When asked about the recent murder of 16-year old Desirée Mariottini in San Lorenzo, she said, “As a woman and mother I feel great pain and anger. As mayor, for two years I have been asking the government to put in place appropriate armed forces. They have since announced that they will hire 152 more policemen and 100 more members of the military police.”

 She went on to say that Rome's San Lorenzo district needs a rebirth, and notes that she has asked the government to hire 2,000 local police members in an attempt to achieve this. She added that governments can’t just evacuate places if deemed unsafe (as happened with an estate on Via Curtatone last year) - they must also enforce measures to support the children, disabled people and broken families left homeless.

 She elaborated upon Di Maio’s plans to improve Rome's security. “In the security decree, he is introducing measures that will adjust the number of police members in action on the streets; at the moment there are fewer than 6000 members, yet as many as 8000 are reportedly required,” she said. When asked for her opinion about whether Salvini is “slowing down on security”, she replied, “if this is true, he must explain himself to Romans.”

 She was also confronted about her accusation for abuse of office over a controversial appointment within her administration, to which she responded, “I am a decent and correct person, which for me is the most important thing.” She expresses sympathy for those who condemn her, regarding their criticisms as “old politics made up of hypocrisy.”

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