Crowds gathered outside the Italian Social Movement headquarters to mark the anniversary three teenagers were killed
By Matt Jackson
Thousands of far-right activists in Italy were filmed performing a stiff-armed Nazi salute in a scene reminiscent of World War II.
Crowds gathered outside the former Italian Social Movement (MSI) headquarters in Rome on Sunday to mark 46 year since three militants from the neofacist party were killed. The annual gathering takes place on Via Acca Larentia in east Rome.
In a video, which emerged on social media, the crowd can be heard chanting “present” while they perform the gesture. An individual can then be heard shouting “for fallen comrades” – a calling card of the far-right.
Roma, Italia, 2024.
Vergogna di Stato. #AccaLarentia pic.twitter.com/yR7VtvmfVR— Paolo Berizzi (@PBerizzi) January 7, 2024
The video has prompted calls for Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to outlaw neofacist groups. Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party descended from the MSI – although she claims they have now consigned “facism to history”.
Elly Schlein, leader of the centre-left Democratic party, wrote on social media: “Rome, 7 January 2024. It seems like 1924.
“What happened is unacceptable. Neofascist groups must be disbanded, as the constitution spells out.”
While Carlo Calenda, leader of the centrist Azione Party, said: “This is an unacceptable disgrace in a European democracy.”
Meanwhile the populist Five Star Movement has said it will present a complaint to prosecutors. The group labelled the demonstration an “apology of facism”.
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