- By Laura Gozzi and Rome correspondent Mark Lowen
- BBC News
1 hour ago
Image source: Paolo Berizzi/La Repubblica
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After Sunday evening's rally celebrating the deaths of three far-right activists, images of the fascist gun salute went viral
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is being urged to ban neo-fascist groups after hundreds of men were seen giving fascist salutes at a rally in Rome on Sunday evening.
They were attending an annual memorial service for three far-right activists who were allegedly killed by far-left militants in the 1970s.
But a video shared on social media has brought the event into the spotlight.
In it, rows of men dressed in black can be seen stretching out their right arms.
They can also be heard shouting “Present!” in response to the rallying cry “For all fallen comrades!” – a typical slogan of the Italian right-wing extremists.
The rally is held every year to commemorate the murder of three teenage activists from the youth wing of the far-right Italian Social Movement (MSI) in 1978.
Two were shot dead by suspected far-left militants outside the MSI headquarters on Via Acca Larentia in Rome, while the third was killed by police during unrest following the shooting.
No one was ever prosecuted for the murders, which became widely known as the “Acca Larentia Massacre.”
Sunday evening's scenes were condemned by parties across the political spectrum.
Elly Schlein, the leader of the center-left Democratic Party (PD), said the images from the rally “look like 1924,” referring to the era of fascist leader Benito Mussolini and his black-shirted militias.
“What happened is unacceptable. Neo-fascist groups must be disbanded, as stated in the constitution,” Ms. Schlein added.
The leader of the centrist Azione party, Carlo Calenda, said the Acca Larentia commemoration was an “unacceptable disgrace in a European democracy.”
Deputy Prime Minister Antonio Tajani, leader of the center-right Forza Italia party, said any celebration of the dictatorship should be condemned, adding: “There is a law that says you cannot apologize for fascism in our country may.”
Even some members of the Brothers of Italy (FdI) party, which has its political roots in the MSI, criticized the scenes. Giovanni Donzelli said FdI had “nothing to do with what happened” and that those attending the event were “200 idiots that the left will use to condemn us.”
However, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who is also the head of the FdI, has so far remained silent on this matter.
Ms. Meloni has thought about the 1978 murders in the past. In 2021, she posted a tribute to the three murdered activists on Facebook, saying the killings were “a tragedy for which a perpetrator has never been found” and calling it “a wound that has never healed.”
Her ambiguity arises from her own political background. Ms. Meloni, 19, told reporters that she thought Italy's wartime fascist leader Benito Mussolini was “a good politician.” She entered Italian politics as a member of the MSI.
In recent years, she has tried to position herself as a more moderate, rejecting the “far-right” label and declaring that her party has “banished the fascism of history.”
Image source: Getty Images
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Ms Meloni won around 26% of the vote in Italy's September 2022 elections
However, critics point out that the party logo still features the tricolor flame – long a symbol of neo-fascism – and see their silence before the Acca Larentia scenes as a nod to the more extremist side of their supporters.
The images of the Acca Larentia commemoration went viral after they were shared by La Repubblica correspondent Paolo Berizzi, but events of this kind are not uncommon in Italy.
Every year, hundreds of Mussolini supporters gather in his hometown of Predappio and hold commemorative rallies with slogans and gestures from the fascist era.
Such incidents regularly spark controversy, with opposition parties calling for a police investigation.
However, unlike Germany, where the use of right-wing extremist symbols is banned, in Italy there is no law prohibiting the use of fascist images or gestures. There are buildings and monuments bearing Mussolini's name throughout Italy.
While there are laws “against excusing fascism,” they are vague and rarely enforced. In 2017, an attempt to pass stricter laws failed after right-wing parties argued that the bill would threaten freedom of expression.
On Tuesday, Ignazio La Russa – a key ally of Ms Meloni, who holds Italy's second-highest public office as Senate speaker – intervened in the debate, declaring that it was “not always a crime” to make fascist salutes.
Mr La Russa, a well-known collector of fascist memorabilia who has busts of Mussolini in his home, told Italian media there was still confusion over how “certain gestures” would be taken into account when made in the context of a commemoration of the dead .
He added that he was looking forward to the upcoming ruling by the Court of Cassation, which will decide whether displaying the fascist salute constitutes a crime.