There is a moment in digital controversies when a fact stops being local and opens up a national debate. The name of a national leader, the memory of a recent trauma, and the immediate reaction of another political leader. This is what happened when the case of the comment published by Debora Piazza, a member of the Lega in Barzanò, under a Facebook live related to the presence of Elly Schlein in Lecco, became, within a few hours, a matter for national news.
Debora Piazza, secretary and municipal councilor of the Lega in Barzanò, as well as the regional head of the party's department dedicated to animal welfare, wrote a comment deemed very serious because it evoked what happened in Modena on May 16, 2026, when a car ran over several pedestrians in the city center, causing numerous injuries, some serious. "Someone driving with problems doing us a favor?". This is the phrase that appeared under the live broadcast of the electoral initiative with Schlein and the outgoing mayor Mauro Gattinoni, held in Lecco in piazza Cermenati on May 21, 2026 at 5:30 PM, in the midst of the campaign for the municipal elections on May 24 and 25.
The reaction was almost instantaneous. The provincial Lega Salvini Premier of Lecco, through a statement signed by secretary Daniele Butti, distanced itself from any expression that could be interpreted as a wish for violence, hatred, or harm towards individuals, political opponents, or citizens, and ordered with immediate effect the suspension of Debora Piazza from any position and activity related to the provincial structure. In the same statement, the party reiterated that the debate can be tough, but it cannot cross the line of respect for individuals and democratic principles. Shortly after, Giorgia Meloni also distanced herself, expressing solidarity with Elly Schlein and calling those words "unacceptable," emphasizing that violence, even if only evoked, cannot become political language.
