Funeral green party:the cutting of 78 trees begins.In Romagna a town is split in the war on pine trees

In Cattolica, the (late) attempts to save them made by a transversal front were useless.The mayor:"They are dangerous, the elderly and disabled cannot leave the house."

RIMINI – Carabinieri and municipal police officers in attendance and about ten citizens witnessed in sad silence, behind bars, the cutting of the hair of the first of the 78 pines in via del Giglio sentenced to death, a Catholic, in the province of Rimini. At 11 this morning only the sound of the chainsaw in action could be heard.The awaited response to the complaint to the Prosecutor's Office, made at the last minute, byAdv of Rimini, has not stopped the felling of trees in a town that has in fact been fighting for years - and also with the succession of different administrations - against the pine trees, gradually erasing them from its avenues.The fate of the foliage of Via del Giglio is the same as those that have now become ash on Viale Trento and the historic Via Pascoli, replaced by the previous council (M5S-branded) with 'Chinese saplings'.And the residents of those streets now celebrate and praise the order and cleanliness on social media.

THE ADMINISTRATIONS CHANGE, BUT ALL ARE AT WAR AGAINST THE PINES

Today she is the mayor Franca Foronchi and its centre-left council (PD plus bushes) that they have the felling of all 78 trees in via del Giglio was unanimously approved on 6 June: “We don't want to happen again on this artery, what has also happened in other streets of the city where, after a few years, we will be forced to intervene again - he reasons - using resources that we would have allocated to the arrangement of pavements and streets of Cattolica which they still require interventions after 30 years of lack of maintenance".And again:“As administrators we have civil and criminal responsibilities for any damage to things and people that could be caused by the roots of the pine trees”.And we must not forget "the elderly who live there - he adds - struggle to leave the house, as do the disabled, people with prams and strollers have to walk in the middle of the street".

A DIVIDED CITY

Those who mourn the trees are those who do not live in those avenues, in short, or the politics which, this time, united the former pine fellers of the 5 Star Movement, today in opposition, and the bushes of the majority, not even represented in the Council, but still a majority, like theAdv.In short, the town is divided between citizens and political groups for or against the pines.But if those who don't want the pine trees moved in time, those who say they want to defend them were less timely, to put it mildly.

The killing was scheduled last June for today, Monday 19 August, and only on the eve of the slaughter was a protest demonstration in front of the town hall attended by citizens and bipartisan representatives of local politics.Among the 'VIPs' also the parliamentarian of the 5 Star movement Marco Croatti. “These trees, which are more than 50 years old, represent a precious resource for our community – he claims – and, especially in an era of increasingly pressing climate change, they must be protected and valorised, not destroyed”.

NOTHING ACCOMPLISHED THE COMPLAINT TO THE PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE, ONLY THE RAIN STOPS THE CHAINSAWS

Always in extremis, on the eve of the demolition, Cesarino Romani And Fortunato Stramandinoli Of
Adv of the Province of Rimini have submitted a complaint to the Rimin Prosecutor's Officei to raise procedural defects in the decision taken last June by the Council in Resolution no. 83 "executive project for the redevelopment of Via Del Giglio in Cattolica", in which "the felling of the pine trees present on the avenue is explicitly reported, without the need of any authorization act as an emergency measure".Avs disputes the urgency and therefore requests "appropriate checks regarding the urgency and consequently to suspend the cutting, which is scheduled to begin on Monday 16 August 2024 from 6.00 am".

Apparently the complaint did not have the desired outcome.The cutting has started.Luckily, where man cannot, nature can:the rain that arrived mid-morning caused the work to be suspended.The cut is postponed until tomorrow.