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WORLD NEWS Thursday 14 May 2020
Italy's South Tyrol invokes autonomy to pry open lockdown

By COLLEEN BARRY
Associated Press
BOLZANO, Italy (AP) — The
blazing orange letters of
fire spelled out a familiar
message in Italy's South
Tyrol province, an old call
to resistance repurposed
for the days of the coro-
navirus: ''Los von Rom''
and ''Freiheit,'' German for
''Away from Rome'' and
''Freedom.''
In decades past, the words
ignited on a mountainside
demanded independence
from Rome's rule for the
province's German-lan-
guage majority. Now, they
vent discontent in South Ty-
rol, which was once part of
Austria, with the uncompro-
mising and indiscriminate
lockdown imposed by the
Italian government to slow
the spread of the corona-
virus.
Spurred by economic pres-
sure, the provincial gover-
nor defied Rome this week
and reasserted South Ty- This picture taken on May 2, 2020 and made available on Tuesday, May 12, 2020 by Suedtiroler Schuetzenbund, a group that rejects
rol's cherished autonomy, the legitimacy of Italian rule of the area that became part of Italy after World War II, shows writing with fire reading in German "Away
allowing restaurants, hair from Rome", on a field in Val Pusteria, known in German as Pusteral, in the German-speaking province of South Tyrol, in northern
salons, tattoo parlors and Italy.
museums to reopen Mon- Associated Press
day -- well ahead of the
timetable set by Italy's gov- ate lunch at the prescribed ing resistance settled down cases with 290 deaths — 6,000-strong ''Schuetzen,''
ernment. 2-meter (over 6 foot) dis- after Italy implemented the both figures representing a cultural association that
''We have a relatively posi- tance or drank coffee in province's autonomy sta- about 1% of Italy's totals. aims to preserve Tyrolean
tive situation regarding bars outfitted with Plexiglas tus, enshrining bilingualism Ebner pointed to a lack of customs and which sees
the epidemic, with a rate safety screens. and allowing 90% of local discipline in Italy's hard-hit Rome as a foreign power
of contagion the lowest in Despite the province's bold tax revenue to remain in Lombardy region during -- took credit for igniting the
Italy,'' said Gov. Arno Kom- stance, some business own- South Tyrol. the early stage of an initial flames. Juergen Wirth An-
patscher, whose South Ty- ers demurred to Rome -- for The province, with a pop- lockdown, when cellphone derlan thinks the ''peace-
rolean People's Party has now. ulation of 520,000, today data showed about half ful message" made Kam-
controlled the province Alexander Sullmann, a bar enjoys the highest gross of residents leaving their patscher's push to open
since 1948. The party's legis- owner in the town of Neu- domestic product per homes. businesses easier to sell to
lators in the national parlia- markt, known in Italian as capita in Italy and among In South Tyrol, ''when the or- Rome's minister for regional
ment back Italian Premier Egna, said he was waiting the highest in Europe at der was given not to leave affairs.
Giuseppe Conte's govern- at least a week to see if 42,600 euros ($45,500). But home, people didn't leave ''He could say, 'I don't have
ment. clearer safety guidelines for the pandemic is forecast their homes,'' he said. ''If my people under control,
''We appreciated the ac- his industry emerge. He was to contract the economy here the numbers are im- there is something bubbling
tions of the government in particularly worried about by as much as 11%, which proving ... we need to take up there','' Wirth Ander-
the phase of emergency, how to enforce rules that could get worse depend- note and award the virtu- lan told the AP. ''What the
where it was necessary forbid more than two peo- ing on the virus' trajectory. ous.'' economic federations and
to move in a united way," ple from different house- The head of the region's While the government suc- tourism federations told the
Kompatscher said. "But we holds at a single table. 59,000-member chamber cessfully blocked the south- provincial president was
are very proud and jealous ''The province gave us the of commerce, Michl Ebner, ern region of Calabria's probably heavier and car-
of our autonomy.'' OK, but there are a lot of backed the push for South efforts to reopen ahead ried more pressure than
While the rest of Italy questions and a lot of rules Tyrol to go its own way on of the national schedule, from us. We underscored
watched with a mix of envy are not set in stone yet,'' emerging from the virus South Tyrol managed to that with these fires.''
and curiosity, South Tyrole- Sullmann, 30, said, lockdown. avoid significant legal chal- Wirth Anderlan said he re-
ans wearing masks could South Tyrol, or Alto Adige ''I understand the concept lenge due to its self-gover- jects the violence of past
browse shops again for to Italian speakers, is an of solidarity,'' Ebner said. nance statute. secession moves -- al-
items such as a tablecloth Alpine province of world- ''But you cannot apply the Until the flaming words that though he wants to see
needed for a gift, have class ski resorts and neatly same rules from Lampedu- appeared recently against South Tyrol become either
piercings changed by ap- manicured orchards and sa to the Brenner Pass. The the night sky, it had been independent or annexed
pointment and visit a hair- vineyards that became situations are different.'' years since fires protest- by Austria. Neither position
dresser for a long-overdue part of Italy after World South Tyrol reported no ing Rome's governance is on the mainstream South
haircut. War I. Following a period of new confirmed virus cases burned on local mountain- Tyrol political agenda, and
They sat in Walther Square, violence in the 1950s and on Tuesday. The province sides. both are widely seen as lim-
near Bolzano's Duomo, and 1960s, the German-speak- so far has 2,572 confirmed The leader of the ited to a fringe.q