Covid-19: Anger in Italy after opera star Andrea Bocelli urges people to defy rules
The Local Italy - [email protected] •
28 Jul, 2020
Updated Tue 28 Jul 2020 10:37 CEST
Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli attacked the government on Monday, saying he was "humiliated and offended" by the coronavirus lockdown and urging people to disobey rules still in place.
“I felt humiliated and offended. I could not leave the house even though I had committed no crime,” Bocelli said.
The 61-year-old also said that he admitted to violating the lockdown rules, as he did "not think it was right or healthy to stay home at my age," Italian media reports.
He added that he doesn't believe the pandemic was as bad as the government made it seem - as he does not personally knowing anyone admitted to intensive care with the disease.
"So what was all this sense of gravity for?" he said.
His comments came at a Senate conference attended by opposition politicians including Matteo Salvini, the leader of the far-right League party who has attacked the government of Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte over the handling of the coronavrius crisis and repeatedly criticised lockdown rules.
Bocelli also encouraged others to break the continued mask-wearing and social distancing rules, saying: "Let's refuse to follow this rule."
"Let's read books, move around, get to know each other, talk, dialogue."
In Italy, where more then 35,000 people have died due to Covid-19 according to offical data, precautionary measures remain in place. The government warns that while the worst of the crisis now seems to be over, the virus has not disappeared and people must remain cautious.
Bocelli's remarks came as a surprise as the tenor had become a symbol of national unity at the height of the lockdown, when he sang in an empty Milan cathedral on Easter Sunday in a live-streamed solo performance called Music for Hope.
Massimo Galli, head of the Infectious Diseases Unit at the Luigi Sacco Hospital in Milan, told Italian news agency ANSA that the conference sent an "inadequate, dangerous" message with "no scientific basis."
The comments caused outrage on social media in Italy among scientific experts, celebrities and members of the public alike.
Nino Cartabellotta, head of the Gimbe evidence-based medical research foundation, slammed both the statement and the conference, saying: "Minister of Health Speranza and President Conte reaffirm social distancing and the use of masks. But the protection of the right to health is now debased by mere political opposition."
Ministro Salute #Speranza e Presidente #Conte ribadiscono #distanziamento sociale e uso #mascherine.
Ma la tutela del diritto alla #salute è ormai svilito a mera contrapposizione politica#Salvini #Bocelli pic.twitter.com/Fx8v9lKjBq
— Nino Cartabellotta (@Cartabellotta) July 27, 2020
He also tweeted agreement with Italian rapper Fedez, who wrote: "If you don't know anyone who has been in intensive care and you'd like to instill the idea that the pandemic was science fiction, I introduce a friend of mine who had a lung transplant at 18 years old because of Covid. Staying quiet every now and then doesn't hurt, huh?"
Se non conoscete nessuno che sia stato in terapia intensiva e vi permettete di instillare il dubbio che la pandemia sia stata fantascienza vi presento un mio amico che causa Covid ha dovuto subire un trapianto di polmoni a 18 anni. Poi fare silenzio ogni tanto non fa male eh pic.twitter.com/v5px9Pfosw
— Fedez (@Fedez) July 27, 2020
Other social media users posted photos of relatives who had died from Covid-19 and whose funerals they had not been able to attend, venting their anger at suggestions the pandemic was an "invention".
Ciao nonna Zita, dicono che si sono sentiti offesi e umiliati per la quarantena e che il #COVID19 è un'invenzione. Chissà come ti sei umiliata e offesa tu che te ne sei andata sola e senza funerale proprio per quella montatura lì #negazionisti #BocelliVergognati #36milamorti pic.twitter.com/vUsi1FhT8t
— zitadazzi (@zitadazzi) July 28, 2020
On Tuesday morning, the hashtag #BocelliVergognati (Bocelli be ashamed of yourself) was trending on Italian Twitter.
Italy's strict nationwide lockdown was announced on March 9th and lasted almost three months before being gradually eased.
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“I felt humiliated and offended. I could not leave the house even though I had committed no crime,” Bocelli said.
The 61-year-old also said that he admitted to violating the lockdown rules, as he did "not think it was right or healthy to stay home at my age," Italian media reports.
He added that he doesn't believe the pandemic was as bad as the government made it seem - as he does not personally knowing anyone admitted to intensive care with the disease.
"So what was all this sense of gravity for?" he said.
His comments came at a Senate conference attended by opposition politicians including Matteo Salvini, the leader of the far-right League party who has attacked the government of Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte over the handling of the coronavrius crisis and repeatedly criticised lockdown rules.
Bocelli also encouraged others to break the continued mask-wearing and social distancing rules, saying: "Let's refuse to follow this rule."
"Let's read books, move around, get to know each other, talk, dialogue."
In Italy, where more then 35,000 people have died due to Covid-19 according to offical data, precautionary measures remain in place. The government warns that while the worst of the crisis now seems to be over, the virus has not disappeared and people must remain cautious.
Bocelli's remarks came as a surprise as the tenor had become a symbol of national unity at the height of the lockdown, when he sang in an empty Milan cathedral on Easter Sunday in a live-streamed solo performance called Music for Hope.
Massimo Galli, head of the Infectious Diseases Unit at the Luigi Sacco Hospital in Milan, told Italian news agency ANSA that the conference sent an "inadequate, dangerous" message with "no scientific basis."
The comments caused outrage on social media in Italy among scientific experts, celebrities and members of the public alike.
Nino Cartabellotta, head of the Gimbe evidence-based medical research foundation, slammed both the statement and the conference, saying: "Minister of Health Speranza and President Conte reaffirm social distancing and the use of masks. But the protection of the right to health is now debased by mere political opposition."
Ministro Salute #Speranza e Presidente #Conte ribadiscono #distanziamento sociale e uso #mascherine.
— Nino Cartabellotta (@Cartabellotta) July 27, 2020
Ma la tutela del diritto alla #salute è ormai svilito a mera contrapposizione politica#Salvini #Bocelli pic.twitter.com/Fx8v9lKjBq
He also tweeted agreement with Italian rapper Fedez, who wrote: "If you don't know anyone who has been in intensive care and you'd like to instill the idea that the pandemic was science fiction, I introduce a friend of mine who had a lung transplant at 18 years old because of Covid. Staying quiet every now and then doesn't hurt, huh?"
Se non conoscete nessuno che sia stato in terapia intensiva e vi permettete di instillare il dubbio che la pandemia sia stata fantascienza vi presento un mio amico che causa Covid ha dovuto subire un trapianto di polmoni a 18 anni. Poi fare silenzio ogni tanto non fa male eh pic.twitter.com/v5px9Pfosw
— Fedez (@Fedez) July 27, 2020
Other social media users posted photos of relatives who had died from Covid-19 and whose funerals they had not been able to attend, venting their anger at suggestions the pandemic was an "invention".
Ciao nonna Zita, dicono che si sono sentiti offesi e umiliati per la quarantena e che il #COVID19 è un'invenzione. Chissà come ti sei umiliata e offesa tu che te ne sei andata sola e senza funerale proprio per quella montatura lì #negazionisti #BocelliVergognati #36milamorti pic.twitter.com/vUsi1FhT8t
— zitadazzi (@zitadazzi) July 28, 2020
On Tuesday morning, the hashtag #BocelliVergognati (Bocelli be ashamed of yourself) was trending on Italian Twitter.
Italy's strict nationwide lockdown was announced on March 9th and lasted almost three months before being gradually eased.
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