Salvini on trial, coffee before the hearing with Meloni and Tajani. Which Berlusconi also calls

CATANIA – Lasts the time of a breakfast, facing the sea of ​​Acicastello. More than a meeting, a greeting. Matteo Salvini is already wearing a white shirt and tie, he will wear the jacket only when he climbs the steps of the court as soon as he gets out of the car with Giulia Bongiorno. An hour earlier, at 8 a.m., Giorgia Meloni and Antonio Tajani join him on the terrace of the Baia Verde hotel, not far from the capital of Etna, for a virtual hug before the trial begins.

Politics

Salvini’s trial, the prosecutor asked “nowhere to proceed”

by our correspondent ALESSANDRA ZINITI

The secretary of the Northern League takes a coffee, seems tense but “sure of his reasons, happy for the mobilization at his side”, they will tell later. The leader of Fdi and the vice-president of Fi arrived in Catania the night before and will remain in these hours to bring their solidarity and closeness to the head of the coalition for the kidnapping trial. The usual photo of a tres with a seabed immortalizes this one that is not a summit like any other. Politics is certainly not discussed.

“Only in the regimes does a political opponent disappear trying to put him in jail – Giorgia Meloni attacks after the match – But I saw him well, calm, reactive, I suppose there is also a nervousness. I think that no one for having done that job could have imagined going to court. For people like us, going to court is serious business. But I found it very combative. ” Antonio Tajani brings to the League the greeting of Berlusconi, still positive in the Covid. “We all agree on the need for a justice reform – he says – we have to change the system.”

Salvini thanks them and thanks his followers “who came to Catania to make me feel their closeness”. To conclude, via Facebook, with the usual motto: “Forward with your head held high, with confidence, sure that you have always acted for the defense of the homeland and the security of Italians”. Breakfast with the opportunity to take pictures of all three was initially planned in Piazza Duomo. Leaking news, risk of incursion of protesters and dismissal of the prefect advised to keep the meeting confidential.

At the end of the hearing, Salvini will arrive at the Port, where his intervention is scheduled from the stage during the oratory marathon that concludes the three days of the North League in Nuova Dogana. Plead “guilty of defending Italy and Italians.”

In front of the pitch, the cameras and photographers keep their distance. Piazza Verga is armored by the police. Only six people lift a car of support and solidarity (“15 reasons follow you”, “try me too”).

A few hundred meters away, in Piazza Trento, the demonstration of the “Sicilia does not get involved” Network began, which was also joined by the local Democratic Party.

Demonstration against the League in Piazza Trento in Catania