Silent National Christian-Inspired Protest Mocked By Opponents

Case information
Incident date
Country
Italy
Categories
  • Social Hostility / Intolerance
Attack Against
  • Morals
Perpetrator / Motive Indicators
  • Private
  • Radical Left
Religious Freedom / Discrimination
  • Exclusion (of individuals or ideas)
  • Freedom of Expression

On 24th of May 2015, an Italian network called Sentinelle in piedi ("Standing Watchmen“) organized a protest against the proposed draft laws on "homophobia" and same-sex unions and expressed their dissenting views by standing for an hour in silence at over 100 public squares all over Italy. The reason for that is the belief that new laws, if approved, would curtail freedom of speech for Christians. Opponents used offensive slogans and provocative gestures, including simulating homosexual acts. The participants of the Sentinelle in piedi were partly hindered by the protests. Opponents were mostly LGBT activists.

Source: Personal contact with Observatory