Rome
CNN
—
A video of more than 150 men dressed in black and raising their right arms in a fascist salute in central Rome has gone viral, causing uproar everywhere but Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s office.
The incident is currently being investigated by Rome’s anti-fascist police special unit, which held an event on the night of January 7 to commemorate the 46th anniversary of the Acca Larentia massacre. When three young neo-fascist extremists Members of the Italian Social Movement (MSI) were murdered, living up to their name.
Two people, Franco Bigonzetti and Francesco Ciavatta, were killed by suspected left-wing activists on the street outside the MSI party headquarters, and a third, Stefano Recchioni, was killed by police officers responding to the riots over the first killing. Ta.
No one has been charged in the 1978 murder.
In a video taken by an onlooker last weekend, the saluting men can be clearly heard shouting “present” three times as they raise their right arms.
And one shouts the familiar neo-fascist battle cry: “For all our fallen comrades.”
Events to commemorate their deaths are held on January 7 every year, and under left-wing and right-wing governments, police provide security. Members from both ends of the political spectrum always attend these rallies and lay flowers at the young people’s monuments.
The MSI party grew from the ashes of Benito Mussolini’s National Fascist Party after it was disbanded when the dictator was ousted and murdered at the end of World War II.
It was the political party in which Meloni first entered politics. She led MSI before merging her party with her own more moderate Italian Brothers party and winning a snap election in 2022.
According to his social media accounts, Meloni has attended many commemorations in the Via Acca Larencia in the past, but never as prime minister.
Several members of Meloni’s party attended last weekend, including Francesco Rocca, head of Lazio, where Rome is located, and Miguel Gottor, Rome’s cultural secretary from the opposition Democratic Party. Gottor and Rocca laid flowers at a memorial to fallen activists, but left before the fascist salute was given, their office told CNN.
Italy’s opposition parties, including Democratic Party leader Ellie Schlein, have called on Meloni to ban neo-fascist groups.
Italy’s constitution prohibits fascist ideology, but throughout the country Monuments commemorating Italy’s fascist past remain, such as obelisk bearings. Mussolini’s name in front of the Olympic Stadium in Rome.
This is a complex area and, like in many parts of Italy, the law is vague. It is a crime in Italy to “apologize” for old-style fascism, but neo-fascist groups are not. Such groups are often careful not to adopt overtly fascist ideology into the constitution.
Also, fascist memorabilia and gestures such as fascist salutes are not illegal, and critics say this should change.
“This is Rome on January 7, 2024. It feels like 1924,” Schlein posted on social media, along with an image of the salute. She said: “What happened is unacceptable. The neo-fascist group must be disbanded.”
Noemi di Segna, president of the Federation of Italian Jewish Communities, called on the government to condemn the salute, saying the act was “dangerous nostalgia” and the law should be strengthened.
“For a very long time, we have been calling for stronger regulations regarding neo-fascist nostalgia,” she said.
The episode also condemned Meloni’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister, Antonio Tajani (now leader of Forza Italia after the death of Silvio Berlusconi), who said that his party is anti-fascist and that any political party is not a dictatorship. He said that the system should not be praised.
Meloni was not at Sunday night’s memorial service and only said of the incident: branding There has been a growing backlash and calls for a ban on “attacks” on the government by neo-fascist groups.
“This government continues to respond with facts and consequences to the unprovoked attacks and exploitative controversy of some opposition parties in recent days,” she wrote on Facebook.
A spokesperson for Mr Meloni said: I probably won’t comment further.
living witness He told CNN that the commemoration ceremony, which also includes a fascist salute, is held on the street every year.
“Every year they commemorate the murders, they lay flowers at the memorial, and every year they salute the dignitaries after they leave,” Maria Calderone told CNN. “What’s shocking is that it’s only now, 46 years later, that it’s getting attention.”
Paolo Bellizzi, an Italian journalist with La Repubblica newspaper who is under police protection for his reporting on neo-fascism and who obtained the damning video, said fascism is “still prevalent” in Italy. “The reason is because it never went away,” he told CNN. ”
“Fascism is not a product of the Meloni government,” he told CNN. “Italian fascism never died. It was defeated militarily, but not culturally… In a sense, this country is in the womb and reemerges when it is weak.”
This is in contrast to other countries such as Germany, which has no tolerance for other forms of fascism. “At this point, neo-fascist groups feel protected by Meloni’s silence and ambiguity,” Bellizzi said. Meloni is unable to break free from his past. In a sense, she is a hostage to the past. ”
Rome’s chief prosecutor has opened an investigation into the incident to determine whether anyone violated the “apology for fascism” law with the fascist salute.
Italy’s Directorate of General Investigation and Special Operations (DIGOS) has identified 150 participants, all of them male, nine of whom are known right-wing extremists who have previously faced criminal charges related to fascism, a spokesperson for the agency said. announced.
In his first year in power, Meloni became one of Europe’s most moderate leaders, demonstrating a promise to distance himself from his neo-fascist upbringing and leading the charge on issues from Ukraine to immigration. was praised for his leadership. But her silence on the domestic issues currently rocking the country could change everything.
The European Parliament in Strasbourg will take up the incident on Tuesday when it debates the resurgence of neo-fascism in Europe. Ewan McPhee, a spokesman for the Social Democrats in the European Parliament, warned that they intended to take the debate seriously.
“The prime minister’s silence is even more perplexing and makes me wonder why she did not condemn the events of January 7,” MacPhee said ahead of Tuesday’s meeting, according to Italian media. “There’s going to be a debate and it’s important that Congress does what I don’t think Mr. Meloni can do, which is to condemn what happened.”