Milan, after fear: the people to start again

A girl attacked at work. Refugee tourists in a gallery. Traders forced to deal with the damage. In Milan, crossed by the clashes of 17 and 18 October, they are the people to watch before any controversy: those who found themselves involved in violence while working or crossing the city.

The carovit does not justify aggression. Anger doesn't give you the right to plunder a store. And no claim makes it acceptable to dump one's violence on those who are not involved.

To make this clear is a form of respect for the victims. Just as it is to tell what happens next: the rescue coming, the work to be resumed, the need to feel protected. It is here that, in painful news, we can recognize concrete gestures of care.

Tourists sheltered and intervention by firemen

Sunday, October 18, during the unrest in the center of Milan, some tourists took refuge in a gallery. The fire department intervened to free them.

An episode that deserves space, because it tells what it means to be there when someone needs it. While violence made the streets insecure, rescuers intervened to help people who had sought refuge.

Someone was in difficulty and someone came to help. Let us pause over that gesture: noticing a person, reaching them, trying to help. In a city always in a hurry, time given to someone else matters.

The rescue has this concrete force. It entrusts the response to fear to the preparation, the presence, the responsibility of those who intervene. And remember how valuable the work of those who protect the safety of others, even in the most difficult situations.

Attacked, the next day he was back at work

In Galleria Passarella, a young worker attacked during the riots had returned to work the next day. His story emerged during the visit of Mayor Giuseppe Sala to the affected exercises, on October 19.

Short news, behind which there is a person who deserves attention. Because an aggression at work enters the everyday life of those who suffer it: it strikes the place where they spend the days, meets colleagues and customers, earns a living.

Returning to a familiar place can be an important step. Fear does not follow a work schedule, though: it deserves care even when the day seems to have returned to its usual rhythm.

Those returning to work may still need support. The ability to move forward does not cancel the right to be heard, protected and helped.

It is a closeness that we should learn to offer even outside the great news. Ask how a person is doing, give her time to answer, don't expect her to return to her first.

Behind a store there are people

On 19 October, the president of Confcommercio Carlo Sangalli and the mayor visited some affected activities. The association expressed solidarity with traders and law enforcement agencies, announcing that it had been active in order to obtain compensation for damaged companies. This is a stated commitment, to be followed in its results: the press release does not document sums already paid.

For those who have suffered damage, sharing means dealing with very concrete problems. Repairs, expenses, organization of work. Solidarity also serves this purpose: to help people find answers when the weight of the consequences falls on them.

A shop is a place of work. To harm him means to strike even those who build their own independence and support their own family. Behind a sign there are responsibilities and projects that deserve respect.

The announced proximity will now have to be measured against these needs. And continue even when public attention will be turned elsewhere.

Movement 17 October: responsibilities must be called by name

In the context of the protests against the carovita the Movement 17 October appeared on social media, which announced weekly mobilizations in eight Italian cities. In the reconstruction published on 19 October, the identities of the channel managers were unknown and there were no known links between the administrators and the authors of the looting.

This distinction is necessary in order to properly assign responsibilities. He who manifests peacefully exercises a right. Those who attack or plunder must answer for their actions.

Economic difficulties call for serious answers. Using them to justify violence means adding other people to suffering, hitting those who work, those who pass through, those who intervene to protect others.

And the people affected are entitled to more than a sentence for a few days: they are entitled to security, justice and support.

The good here has the face of the caregiver.

The stories emerged from these days are about relief, daily courage and closeness. They don't allow you to tell a city that's already healed. However, they indicate which people to start with.

From the fire department. From the working girl who was attacked. Whoever's dealing with the damage. From those who can give concrete help and choose to do so.

To CHIARA!, looking at these lives with faith means recognizing the value of the injured person and the responsibility to be with her. The Gospel of the Good Samaritan gives us precisely this gesture: stop before those who have suffered evil and take care of it.

Mercy does not erase the gravity of an aggression. He commits us not to leave the person who has suffered it alone.

Milan, after fear, also needs this: a solidarity that remains, that listens and that helps to start again. For those who have seen their work violated and their security to find, around themselves, someone willing to protect them.