August 2nd, 1980
On August
2nd, 1980, at 10:25AM a bomb exploded in the waiting room of the
Bologna Centrale railway station, in Italy, killing 85 people
and injuring over 200.
After the first hypotheses, related to the explosion of a boiler
in the kitchens of the station restaurant, it was immediately
clear that it was a bomb, which once again hit the democratic
and anti-fascist city, after the Italicus train massacre (see
my
web page)
of August 4th, 1974.
The investigations made clear what was already clear to those
who had their eyes open, that is, that the massacre had been carried
out by the fascist extreme right wing, as part of the infamous
"strategy of tension", which aimed to create terror
among the population, pushing it to ask for order and security
precisely from the right wing, which with its subversive armed
wing had plotted and carried out the massacre.
Numerous cover-ups followed, for which members of the institutions,
in particular the secret services, were convicted, and from which
the key role of the deviant Masonic lodge P2 of Licio Gelli emerged.
Every year since 1980, on August 2nd, Bologna commemorates the massacre,
with a demonstration that starts from piazza Maggiore, the heart of
the city, parades through the city streets, and ends in
the square in
front of the station, where the association of the victims' families, political authorities
and civil society associations speak, to ask for the complete
truth about the massacre, which decades later has not yet been
reached, probably thanks to the misdirection of those who should
have defended the citizens and democracy.
On August 2nd, two
symbols
of the massacre parade together with the citizens: the bus
of line 37
that in the emergency of the massacre functioned as an ambulance,
to transport the wounded to the hospitals, and then to transport
the bodies to the morgue, and a mobile crane of the Firemen, to remember
the backbreaking work they carried out to recover the wounded
and the dead bodies from under the rubble of the station.
The waiting room in which the bomb was left is still running.
The gash caused by the explosion on the wall was left
open,
closed by a glass window, the crater caused by the bomb on the floor
is still visible, under a plaque listing the names of the casualties,
indicated as "victims of fascist terrorism", despite
the fact that years ago a President of the Italian Republic shamefully
attempted to have the reference to fascism removed.
Four years after the massacre at the station, on December 23rd, 1984, another
bomb caused a massacre on the Rapido 904 train, a few kilometers
before the Bologna station, killing 16 people and injuring 267.
In that case, it is believed that the massacre was carried out
by the mafia, who chose Bologna as their target anyway.
page
created: January
25th, 2025 and last updated: January 25th, 2025