The “No Bridge” people return to the streets to protest against the construction of the bridge over the Strait of Messina. The appointment is for Saturday 10 August at 18.30 in Piazza Cairoli in Messina. The slogan of the demonstration is “We want water from the tap, not the bridge over the Strait”. The procession is also linked to the water emergency that is being experienced in Messina as well as in all of Sicily.
“They had said that this would be the last summer without construction sites, but in reality this did not happen because the Bridge governance had to postpone the dates of the schedule, for the construction sites we will now talk about it in 2025” says Gino Sturniolo, “No Ponte” activist on the occasion of the presentation of the demonstration at Palazzo Zanca.
“In reality – he continues – they have recovered this time to implement two measures: the infrastructure decree and the bill on security, on the one hand the novelty of the broken-up project is created with the possibility of producing the executive project in phases and on the other the provision of increased penalties for crimes related to the fight against large-scale works”.
«Stretto di Messina spa could have been liquidated but this was not done – he concludes – furthermore this procession falls within a deep water crisis, we consider it sensational that in a city in these conditions they are thinking of spending 14 billion for a project that we consider useless and harmful”.
The position of the university movement
The movement of university students against the bridge is joining the “No bridge” march tomorrow, August 10th. “A march
peaceful with which the citizens of Messina claim the sacrosanct right to take part in the decisions
which concern their own future, and opposes a public work as devastating as it is useless,
imposed without any real consultation of citizens. Drought, water emergency, right to health
denied: the national government does not give concrete answers to these pressing needs while the government
regional government has subtracted 2 billion from the cohesion fund and allocated them to the bridge, putting it in second place
plan the real needs of Sicilian citizens and first place the interests of big business. With the
By joining the procession, we intend to claim the right to participate in the choices that concern the
territory and its sustainable development. Faced with the umpteenth forcing of the infrastructure decree that, in the absence of an executive project for the bridge, provides for the works to be broken up and against the gag decree that criminalises dissent and restricts freedom of expression, we will cross the streets of the city to ask for interventions that respect the environment, the needs of sustainable development and the right to the future of the young generations. Against the blackmail of the bridge that subordinates to its construction necessary and urgent works for the safety of the territory and for the correct management of the most precious asset, water for
everyone, we will be in the square with committees, associations, parties and all citizens who have the good at heart
common”.