Sassari hands over the keys to the city to Francesca Albanese, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories . Yesterday, the city council voted overwhelmingly in favor of the motion presented by Stefano Manai and Anna Paola Rubattu . This passage came after nearly two hours of debate that saw some moments of tension between the parties.
"With this motion," Manai explains, "we are asking for a sober and useful act. The keys to the city to Francesca Albanese for her methodical and independent institutional work; public solidarity and defense of her autonomy in office from pressure and intimidation ; and civic education in Sassari on law and rights. This is a choice within our remit and consistent with the vision of the city we want to be: a Sassari that, when reality is at its harshest, does not abandon facts, rules, and responsibility."
These words were supported, among others, by Giovanni Desole for the Sassari Progressista e Solidale group. "They are not a gesture of hospitality seeking visibility," he says, "they are a clear stance. And in the face of the tragedies of our time, we cannot afford not to choose. And to position ourselves, even by relying on symbols and high-impact symbolic actions." Echoing the majority, the Five Star Movement's Noemi Piga and Chiara Musio, Melania Delogu and Nicola Ribichesu for the Alleanza Verdi Sinistra, and Antonietta Fois, Antonio Planetta, and Tomasina Serratrice for the Democratic Party (PD) take a similar stance.
Fratelli d'Italia, on the other hand, is completely opposed to the motion. "I consider this motion to be exploitative and hypocritical ," declared group leader Roberto Cadeddu, "as it seeks to divide this city between those who are sensitive and those who are not." The same Meloni representative suggests between the lines that the vote in favor of Albanese conceals a criticism of the government.
Mario Pingerna, president of the city council, stated: "This is not a political act, but a symbolic one. It is a solemn, civic honor." Antonello Sassu of Sassari Progetto Comune also took the offensive: "Albanese represents nothing, only herself." He proposed instead giving the keys to Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Patriarch of Jerusalem. Sassu's comments on alleged anti-Semitism in the council chamber sparked a clash with Pingerna . "His words border on defamation," the latter emphasized. Mayor Giuseppe Mascia's final remarks highlighted the sensitivity lacking elsewhere. Finally, the majority voted in favor.