
Advertisement

Giampietro Belotti: I’ve taken part in historical reenactments in the past and I have always been fond of fancy dress parties and absurd costumes. I haven't been able to digest this whole Standing Sentinels issue—I see it as pulling the wool over people's eyes. So, I thought I'd combine the two.
Advertisement
They stood still, frozen. When the organizers of the event saw me, they ran to the special General Investigations and Special Operations Division [DIGOS, roughly equivalent to the FBI] agents to seek help. One minute later, I was going through my wallet for my ID card.What happened at that point?
A small assembly of people formed around me—a few were applauding, others were taking pictures with their phones. When the cops asked me for my documents, some people intervened to say that I wasn’t doing anything wrong. Two people pulled out their IDs when they realized that the cops were going to take me to the police station.
And then?Let’s just say I wasn’t eager to be taken away. The DIGOS cops were actually quite well-mannered, though—within the limits imposed by their job, of course. Only one of them grabbed my arm and started tugging at me. I said, “Would you mind keeping your hands off?” At that point he stopped because he realized that he wasn’t standing in front of a rioter. The people who were there to defend me started to raise their tone, so I preferred to follow the cops.What did you talk about with the DIGOS agents during the ride?
That was a scene that bordered on the absurd. The cops totally got the references to the Illinois Nazis and Chaplin's The Great Dictator. In the car we started talking about The Blues Brothers. I was quite puzzled by the whole situation.
Advertisement
Honestly, I never thought something like that could happen. The astonishing thing is that the cops were getting all my references, while many journalists haven’t. Some publications ran headlines like “Fake Hitler” or “Dressed as an SS.”
What happened when you reached the police station?
They filed my report, took my fingerprints and my mug shot. I am dressed as an Illinois Nazi in my mugshot. At first, they wanted to confiscate my cardboard and the Mein Kampf book I was carrying with me. Then a third cop arrived who pointed out that confiscating a book that can be found in any bookstore made no sense.Moreover, besides the outfit and the book, I also had a lot of pink paper triangles in my pocket—the ones they used to identify homosexual prisoners in concentration camps. I wanted to distribute them to the homophobes standing in that square, but unfortunately I didn’t have time.Do you really risk being charged with defending fascism?
Well, the cops told me that they had to lay the report of what had happened, confiscate the cardboard, and notify the judge. The only possible crime I could have committed is apology of fascism, which is quite a paradox.I'll say.
My file was on the magistrate’s desk today and now I have to find myself a lawyer. They gave me a public defender yesterday as I don’t have my own. However, many people have tried to find me a lawyer that could defend me for free.It's ridiculous. I showed up in that square with the intention of making a statement, but if I was ever asked to leave—something like, “Excuse me, could you kindly get the fuck out of here?”—I would have left. I truly didn’t expect what happened to me.Follow Leonardo Bianchi on Twitter.
