Milan
Hundreds of people were filmed showing the Roman salute, one of the hallmarks of the Italian fascist period (19221943), in Rome on Sunday evening (7), after an action to commemorate three farright militants murdered there in the late 1970s . Apologizing for fascism is a crime in Italy and punishable by prison.
In the video circulating on social media, the group, lined up in a military formation, extends their arms three times and shouts “Present” after someone says “a tutti i camerati caduti,” or “to all dead comrades.”
The scene was shot on Acca Larentia Street, where the headquarters of the former Italian Social Movement (MSI) was located, a party founded in 1946 by members of the final years of Benito Mussolini's fascist regime.
In front of the site on January 7, 1978, two members of the organization were killed in an alleged attack by a leftwing extremist group. A third man associated with MSI later died after a confrontation with security forces. These were the leaden years in Italy, in which the political dispute was marked by terrorist attacks from both political spectrums.
The date is commemorated annually both institutionally and by neofascists. On Sunday morning, regional and local authorities from right to left took part in the wreathlaying ceremony as an official tribute to the victims. Later the Roman greeting was added without protocol.
Similar acts of support for fascism in connection with this and other events were also recorded in previous years, before the ultraright Brothers of Italy party came to power. The acronym was founded by current Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who was active in the MSI youth department as a teenager. His party's logo is the same tricolor flame that MSI uses.
“It looks like a scene from a hundred years ago, in the middle of the fascist era,” wrote reporter Paolo Berizzi in the newspaper La Repubblica. He specializes in neofascist groups and has been living under the protection of an armed escort since 2019 after receiving death threats. “The pictures are a disgrace for the state,” said the journalist.
Opposition leaders also condemned the scenes. “Rome, January 7, 2024. But it feels like 1924. Neofascist organizations must be disbanded, as the constitution says,” Democratic Rep. Elly Schlein wrote on social media.
The party, both in the Chamber and the Senate, submitted a request for explanation to the government, addressed to the Prime Minister and the ministers Matteo Piantedosi (Ministry of Interior) and Carlo Nordio (Ministry of Justice). “How does the government assess the events in Rome and what initiatives does it intend to take to clarify and put an end to activities or behaviors that openly violate the constitutional provisions and laws of our system,” the text says.
The Five Star Movement, led by former Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, said it would file a complaint with the Ministry of State so that the existence of the crime of apologizing for fascism could be investigated.
Former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi (Itália Viva) also demanded explanations from Meloni. Even before he took office in September 2022, Meloni defended himself against explicit condemnation of the participation of party allies and members in actions reminiscent of the time of fascism, such as the commemoration of the March on Rome. Until the publication of this report, she had not spoken publicly about Roman greetings.
The chamber's vice president, Fabio Rampelli, who is close to Meloni's party and was present at the official ceremony on Sunday, denied the party's links to the neofascist scene. “They are people from different backgrounds, dissidents, extraparliamentary organizations. They have nothing to do with the brothers of Italy,” he told the press.
In a statement, the party countered the opposition's criticism and said that nothing had been done in the Democratic Partyled governments to prevent incidents like those in previous years. “Since 1978, young people killed by an extreme leftwing terrorist squad have been honored, including the 'gift rite'. “Propaganda is dirty and cowardly,” the text says.