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15,000 People Anti-Mafia March Held in Italy
An anti-Mafia demonstration by 15,000 Italian youngsters was held near Naples Wednesday to mark the country's national remembrance day for those killed by the Mafia.
The event has been held every year for the past six years. Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi paid tribute Wednesday to the victims of the Mafia in a message sent to the demonstrators.
Ciampi said that "today is a day for reflection on the grave phenomenon of the Mafia," stressing that the fight against organized crime was a "battle waged by society which strengthens the values of democracy, culture and concrete solidarity against violence."
"The memory of those whose integrity has cost them their lives should boost a shared sense of faith in a future of social progress and development based on full rights and awareness of our duties," the president concluded.
His message was read out to young people gathered at Torre Annunziata, a town south of Naples chosen in memory of Neapolitan journalist Giancarlo Siani, who was murdered by the Mafia in 1985 because of a series of probes into the activities of the Ca Morra gangs there.
Parliament's anti-Mafia committee chairman Giuseppe Lumia, Lower House Speaker Luciano Violante and Rita Borsellino, sister of the murdered frontline anti-Mafia prosecutor Paolo Borsellino, were also present.
A list of 540 names, all Mafia victims, was read out while the demonstrators silently marched through the streets and squares of Torre Annunziata.
Heading the list were Italy's two great crime-fighting heroes, Borsellino and his colleague Giovanni Falcone, who were both blown up by the Mafia in 1992.
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