"From here we do not get up": tourists "chase" the disabled (with reserved seats) from the train

“We don't move from here”.

An incredible episode happened on a regional train in Liguria: some tourists, in the packed convoy, categorically refused to get up to make room for a group of disabled people who had legitimately booked an entire carriage.

It happened on the regional 3075 that from Genoa Porta Principe arrived in Milan: in the late afternoon the Genoa station was filled with tourists who had spent the day on the Ligurian coasts. The train to Milan (delayed because it was vandalized shortly before) quickly filled up but there was a specific carriage that had been reserved for a group of 27 disabled children together with their companions.

When they arrived, their seats had been filled. They therefore pointed out that those armchairs were reserved for them but at that point the incredible happened: the tourists "chained" themselves to the place, replying that they would not move from there. A repeated position in front of the conductor and Trenitalia staff (the intervention of Polfer, on the other hand, was denied by the Transport Department of the Liguria Region).

In short, there was nothing to do. The disabled children were made to get off while Trenitalia quickly set up a bus dedicated to them which, left immediately, brought them back to Milan.

"What happened today on a direct train from Genoa to Milan is shameful, an episode to be stigmatized. It marks the total lack of respect and sensitivity towards disabled people. Despite the Trenitalia operators intervening, there was nothing to do ", commented the Ligurian governor Giovanni Toti. For Transport Councilor Gianni Berrino "what happened is doubly serious, not only because the train was vandalized by unknown passengers but above all because of what happened in Genoa, an unspeakable episode that must be firmly condemned".

"The responsibility for what happened does not lie with those who did not stand up, but with those who did not guarantee the service". The comment, however, by Giulia Boniardi, head of Haccade, the association with which the 25 disabled people traveled who were unable to get on the train and had to return by bus to Milan. "They are pitting people against each other, it is a chilling narrative, the focus is the failure to protect a right, that of travel, the message - underlines Boniardi - is not 'poor disabled people treated badly'".

(Unioneonline / D)