«I have always tried to apply, in public order services, the teaching of an old manager: reporting a protester is never a victory for us policemen, but a defeat. It means that we didn't do our job as best we could." Aldo Bruni, 60 years old, born in Bari but Sardinian by adoption, put all this into practice until Friday, his last day in the Police, particularly in the more than twenty years he spent at Digos. He has been retired since yesterday. And for someone used to managing workers who risk losing their jobs, protesters of all kinds, trade unionists and ultras of football teams, it will not be easy to remain idle: "I certainly won't go around looking at construction sites", he promises, smiling.

Intermediary

To explain his work during marches, strikes, protests, escorts to the authorities and services in football matches, he recalls an anecdote. «During a demonstration in Rome by Euroallumina workers, I was at the head of the procession. I had already had the opportunity to meet Antonello Pirotto, the historic leader with the white helmet, establishing a relationship based on respect for roles. Some protesters left the march to head towards the American embassy. Initiative promptly blocked. After a while Pirotto approached me and said: you'd better take this one. He handed me a gun that an officer had lost. Well, if there hadn't been a relationship of trust, who knows what would have happened to that weapon."

From Borsellino to the squares

Bruni enlisted in 1990, after having had other work experience. First destination: Palermo, stock office. Among the services also those protecting judge Paolo Borsellino. In 1993 he arrived in Sardinia, in Orgosolo, to also deal with the kidnappings of Silvia Melis and Ferruccio Checchi. In 1995 he moved to Cagliari: first to the Mobile Department, then as a neighborhood policeman and finally to Digos, which has become his home for the last 22 years. «I met workers, unemployed people, ministers, heads of state, two Popes, ultras, trade unionists, pastors. I have always put prevention first: trying to create a meeting point between the opposing parties, to avoid clashes and problems." Hence the work in the squares, in the streets, in the shooting ranges, in the ports and under the institutional headquarters. “We have not always managed to prevent the situation from degenerating,” he adds. There are two darker "pages": «The clashes in 2008 in the port of Cagliari, due to the arrival of the ship with waste from Campania, and those in 2012 in front of the Serbariu mine. Also because we don't provide the solutions to the disputes."

The fans

Dialogue with some was not easy. "I had the biggest difficulties with the antimilitary groups and the ultras," he explains. «But even with them I have always tried to find a meeting point in every situation, even during protests in the shooting ranges and in every stadium». For the Sconvolts, Aldo Bruni is "The Lord", a nickname he has carried with him for some time. «The world of fans is a particular world. Never collaboration on their part, as they like to remember in one of their choruses. But we managed to get some respect for the roles. In Florence, after violent clashes between the two opposing groups, I was injured: some of the ultras leaders of Cagliari asked several times how I was. And in the last match, Fiorentina-Cagliari, they asked me if a lunch with them was planned for my retirement. One of the senators from the Shockwaves once told me: you respect us because when you work you don't foam at the mouth." There have been many certificates of esteem that have arrived in recent days. "They made me happy." He will miss the Police. «Above all, I will miss my colleagues and the wonderful team work. The future? It will certainly be in Cagliari."

Matteo Vercelli

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