The photo shows the mayor of the Italian city of Bari, Antonio Decaro, in front of donations made by the city's residents for migrants who arrived at its port in recent days.
The image was posted on July 16 on the mayor's Facebook page, as well as the page of the current president of the National Association of Italian Municipalities (ANCI), with this caption: "Someone tells me that yesterday, by asking the residents of Bari for food and clothing for migrants who disembarked at the port, I lost many votes. While I was writing this post I confess I thought of it. Then I told myself: better to lose an election than to lose humanity".
The post was written as a response to the controversy that developed when Decaro asked the residents of Bari to help the migrants who had arrived on July 15 at the city's port: "This morning 644 people arrived at the Port of Bari who need our help," the mayor wrote. "There are women, lots of small children and men. Anyone who can help and donate something useful can go to the entrance of City Hall where there's a collection point".
After posting the call for aid, the post received criticism and insults: "We're tired of this invasion", one wrote. "Send them back home". "For our children, there's neither work nor a future, make them go to your house," wrote another.
In response to the negativity, Decaro also received many demonstrations of solidarity, and the mayor wrote on Facebook that there are "hundreds of Bari residents who, regardless of their ideas on migrant reception and migration policy, responded to the call", and that "by afternoon the donations covered what was needed".(Photo