Question in the Senate, by the Hon. Giovanardi of NCD, on the "animal hatred" issue following the death of a circus employee who had quarreled with a group of animal rights activists.
The parliamentary group of the New Center Right of the Senate, first signatory Sen. Carlo Giovanardi presented an interpellation to the Minister of the Interior concerning the death from heart attack in Brescia of Roberto Gerardi, one of the best known representatives of the Italian circus families, after an argument with animal rights activists. It all happened when Roberto Gerardi, an employee of the Prague Circus, found himself involved in a quarrel with the representatives of an animal rights association present with their garrison in front of the area where the structure was located close to the motorway tollbooth of Rovato, in the municipality of Cazzago San Martino (Brescia). After arguing with a protester of the PPA (Animal Protection Party) who protested against the use of animals, Roberto Gerardi suffered a heart attack and was admitted to the Chiari hospital, where he died two days later.
The president of the Circhi Dura National Agency, Antonio Buccioni, said, "In expressing, as is natural, in my personal name, the executive board of Enc and the whole category, a fraternal hug to the family, I am not only contrary, but the most hostile to speculation and to the emphasis on circumstances that could appear absolutely random and fortuitous, today I do not hesitate to declare Roberto Gerardi the first Italian martyr of animal rights hatred towards circus people ”.
The strong statements of Buccioni were reported in the interpellation to the Senate whose signatories recalled that more and more often even those who accompany children to the circus are intimidated and insulted, in an attempt to sabotage the shows, with very heavy economic repercussions for the workers of the sector, men and women who perpetuate a centuries-old tradition of circus culture of collaboration with animals.
19 March 2014
Source: AgenParl - IlBlitzQuotidiano