Following the agreement between UCEI and ANPI, the Jewish Brigade has lodged a complaint regarding its expulsion from the 25 April march in Milan

It took just 24 hours following the agreement between the UCEI (Union of Italian Jewish Communities) and the ANPI (National Association of Italian Partisans) – which affirms the “right of the Jewish community to participate safely in the 25 April commemorations” – for an increasingly strained relationship in recent years to be called into question once again. The Jewish Brigade has filed a complaint against those who, on 25 April, caused them to be expelled from the march in Milan: the complaint is against persons unknown and alleges the offences of assault, robbery and incitement to commit a criminal offence; however, from the evidence to be submitted to the public prosecutor’s office – comprising videos and various witness statements – the active role of social centres and far-left militants is evident. The fact that Liberation Day has ended up in court is unprecedented; however, according to the complainants, it is justified by the equally unprecedented expulsion of a group that was forced to leave the event because ‘their safety was at risk’, as Alessandro Pecoraro, a councillor for Ponte Atlantico, explained today whilst outlining the contents of the complaint.

If this outcome has come about, in addition to the direct responsibility of a fringe group within the march, there is also the political responsibility of the ANPI, which has in fact been in charge of organising Milan’s 25 April celebrations since the 1970s. This is a complex undertaking that must bring together Jewish groups and Propal; indeed, even the order in which the groups were to march required lengthy mediation, yet this was not enough to maintain order: a single organisational lapse was enough to bring the two groups into contact with the Jewish Brigade, which was forced to leave the route under police escort. The ANPI intervened on several occasions – as was recalled – taking a stand against the Brigade, with Maso Notarianni condemning the waving of flags bearing the Star of David as “a provocation”, and President Pagliarulo accusing the Brigade itself of having brought the march to a standstill. 

The fact that this matter is to be settled in court is not solely due to the tensions surrounding the latest edition, but to the repeated tensions of the previous 20 editions, even before 7 October 2023 and the war in Gaza. This is the view of Davide Romano, director of the Museum of the Jewish Brigade, who has also described this legal proceedings as ‘painful’ because it implicates certain members of the Permanent Anti-Fascist Committee of which he is a member. In his view, it seems inconceivable that “the most contested flags on 25 April are the very same ones banned in Tehran: the pre-Ayatollah Iranian flag, US flags and Israeli flags”. This latter aspect is little known and concerned groups of Iranian, Venezuelan and Georgian exiles who were travelling with the Brigade and were also forced to leave under escort, utterly incredulous that their right to demonstrate was being denied, just as it is in their countries of origin. 

The Sala administration was not spared criticism, thanks to Manfredi Palmeri, an opposition councillor, who pointed out that the Special Council Committee for Combating Hate Speech and Hate Phenomena makes no mention of anti-Semitism, and that after 25 April the council refused to condemn the violence that took place during the celebrations. The City Council has also received a proposal put forward by Alessandro Litta Modignani: it should take charge of organising the Liberation Day celebrations as a public event. This is how it is done in other towns, assures the coordinator of Ponte Atlantico, who supported the initiative. It is an idea worth discussing, though it is likely to face opposition from the ANPI.