STATEMENT BY OLIVIER DUPUIS, GENERAL SECRETARY OF THE RADICAL PARTY.

Rome, March 6, 1996. It is with great astonishment that I learn that Mayor of Venice Cacciari has decided not to fly the Tibetan flag on the lagoon's City Hall, let aside that such news came from the same press that never deemed worthy of a single word the "A flag for Tibet" campaign we are carrying out since months (while 550 municipalities all over the world will hoist the Tibetan flag on the upcoming March 10).

Formerly, in October 1995, the above-mentioned Mayor already answered that he considers the displaying of the Tibetan flag as an act "in clashing contrast with the current provisions of the law over the use of foreign flags". Does Cacciari really never checked out which are the provisions actually in force? Come on! Those which he recalls are exclusively regarding the displaying of the Italian flag only! (Italian government decree of June 3, 1986)

Now Cacciari insists, and helps himself using in a captious way an order recently sent to some mayors by some prefects, forbidding the display of the Tibetan flag in force of a fascist-era provision which subordinate to the prefect's permission the displaying of foreign flags in public buildings.

Once again Mayor of Venice Cacciari exploits advantage from a situation, this time especially from a provision which has been invalidated by the Italian Supreme Court in 1987.

Our "democratic" Mayor has also used this question, apparently because of opportunist reasons, just with the same mass media which never before published a single word about the hundreds of positive answers we've got. Moral: Mr "Sly Dog" Cacciari's publicity stunt "makes news", while the hundreds of other mayors committed for the freedom of Tibet, well, they don't...

Radical Party