The event in front of the former headquarters of the Italian Social Movement (MSI), an ultra-right-wing fascist organization founded in the post-World War II period, in Rome on Sunday, January 7, on the occasion of the murder of three militants of the MSI 46 years ago, caused public outrage.
IMAGES PROVOKED GREAT REACTION
At an event commemorating the three militants killed on Acca Larenzia Street in the Tuscolana neighborhood of the capital, hundreds of people greeted each other by saying "Here" and raising the right hand vertically and horizontally, also known as the "Roman or Nazi salute", and footage of these moments appeared on social media. The footage drew the reaction of opposition left-wing parties and many others.
CALL FOR MELONI
Opposition parties called on Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy (FdI) and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who has made no secret of her sympathies for Italy's fascist period and has previously tried to distance her party's relationship with it by declaring that "the fascist era is history", to take a stand on this latest incident.
Elly Schlein, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party (PD), said on platform X: "If you shout 'Long live antifascist Italy' in the theater, you are immediately identified, but if you attend a neofascist rally and give the Roman salute, nothing is done. (Interior Minister Matteo) Piantedosi must explain how this happened. Meanwhile, does Meloni have nothing to say?"
It was reported in the press that Schlein will raise the issue tomorrow in the House of Representatives, the lower house of parliament, by asking Interior Minister Piantedosi.
Carlo Calenda, leader of the opposition Action Party (Az), also commented on the X platform, "This is an unacceptable shame in European democracy."
STATEMENT FROM THE FAR-RIGHT PARTY
Senate President Ignazio La Russa, one of the founders of the far-right FdI, the senior partner in the country's right-wing coalition government, told Corriere della Sera newspaper that his party had nothing to do with the commemoration and the fascist salute, but argued that there were "ambiguities" in the assessment of certain movements such as this salute.
The far-right FdI, led by Giorgia Meloni, who won the general elections in Italy in September 2022 and came to power in October of the same year, is said to have its roots in the MSI and the "flame" figure in the FdI's logo comes from the MSI.
