Di Maio slams Feltri's 'senseless' criticism of southerners (2)

Rome, April 23 - Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio on Thursday chided what he called "senseless" statements by the editor of conservative daily Libero, Vittorio Feltri, who said that southerners were inferior and did not need as much attention as northerners in the coronavirus emergency. Di Maio, a southerner, called Feltri's statements "not very happy and rather aggressive against southerners". The Italian journalists' guild on Wednesday instructed a lawyer to weigh whether the image of the profession had been damaged by Feltri. On Berlusconi network Rete 4 talk show Fuoro dal Coro, Feltri said "why on earth should we go to Campania? To be illegal car parkers?" and said southerners "do not suffer from an inferiority complex, in many cases they are inferior". Leftwing Senator and journalist Sandro Ruotolo and writer Maurizio De Giovanni, both southerners, said earlier they were suing Feltri for "gravely damaging the fundamental rights of the people of Campania and the South".