Panic at the 2 June parade rehearsal, thirty runaway horses and four injured

Thirty horses galloping for several kilometres between cars and motorbikes in transit on Via Cristoforo Colombo, one of Rome's main arteries. A film-like scene immortalised in videos and photos, which soon bounced back on social networks and triggered thousands of comments. These were not just any colts, however, but horses chosen to parade at the parade of 2 June and which, shortly after midnight, were ready at the Baths of Caracalla - in the capital's historic centre - for rehearsals for the event. They were in a waiting position, already lined up, but something went wrong.

From an initial reconstruction, the hypothesis is that a battery of fireworks exploded 200 metres away by a traffic policeman set off the animals. The man would later admit to having lit those fires for 'goliardic reasons' while in the company of some colleagues. The rampaging horses ran over people, vehicles and caused a few accidents. The toll is four injured: a 29-year-old policewoman and three young soldiers of the Lancieri di Montebello, including two women. None are in life-threatening danger. They have fractures, grazes and contusions. One of the soldiers, in particular, suffered a punctured lung due to a cracked rib. Slightly injured were also some of the horses, which were then picked up at various points in Colombo, as far as Eur, and secured. And the Ministry of Defence, expressing its sympathy for the injured, emphasises that Minister Crosetto, 'although on an official visit abroad, has constantly followed the development of the situation, keeping abreast of the conditions of the personnel involved' and that the foals were 'immediately rescued and entrusted to the care of the competent personnel'.

Meanwhile, an initial report on the incident has been sent by the Carabinieri to the Public Prosecutor's Office. It is not excluded that a file may be opened in the next few hours for various offences such as injury and damage.

"We will take the right measures, we will ascertain who participated in this. Without giving discounts". Thus to Adnkronos the commander of the Local Police of Roma Capitale Mario De Sclavis after the escape of horses during the rehearsals of the 2 June parade. "Very few units, three, at most four agents" those involved in the events, the commander says again. The explosion of firecrackers "I wouldn't call it a tradition but a custom that my people have never adhered to and we don't know why they decided to do it this time," he added. "We are cooperating with the carabinieri for all the investigations. With the people involved in what happened,' he emphasised, 'I don't speak and I don't have to speak. Precisely because investigations are ongoing and I am carrying them out myself. Talking to them would be inappropriate. On his state of mind as commander and his first thought after learning of the events, he says: "I cannot express myself as I would like to. I returned last night at half past midnight and I haven't slept since. When I got the call from my operations centre, I got in touch with the officials and the manager who had coordinated the parade, they came directly to my house in the night, we agreed on the situation together, decided what to do and contacted Lieutenant Colonel Tosi of the Arma, commander of the Rome Group, and sent my people to draw up the first acts signed jointly with the Carabinieri of Rome Centre. And from there, a succession of calls, until the early hours of the morning. I contacted the mayor, the chief of the cabinet, I heard the Questore, the general of the carabinieri Pecci and brought my solidarity to the police and military personnel involved in the hospital"

There was a lot of fear among those who experienced those moments up close. 'It was the scariest night of my life,' says one of those present at the parade rehearsals, 'The horses ran over anyone and anything that was in front of them. While those who found themselves passing through the streets around the Baths of Caracalla explain: 'I saw them galloping, I didn't understand what was happening. Then I noticed a policewoman on the ground being helped by ambulance personnel and a few metres away a crowd of people around a man'. There were many posts on social media in the early hours of the morning. Many speak of a 'near tragedy' and some do not hesitate to call it a 'miracle that no one died'. While on the political front, Giovanni Barbera, secretary of the Rome Federation and member of the National Direction of Rifondazione Comunista, maintains: 'The sensational escape of the Army horses is not a simple accident. It is, to all intents and purposes, a symbolic and unintentionally powerful gesture of disobedience to the staging of the militarisation of our Republic'. For Barbera, 'nature offered an unexpected lesson. The sound of a few firecrackers was enough to remind us that horses are free and sensitive animals, who do not intend to be reduced to extras in a military parade'.