Video causes excitement
Hundreds raise their right arms in a fascist salute in Rome
January 8, 2024, 2:18 p.m
Hundreds gather in the Italian capital for a memorial service for three young neo-fascists. A video shows them raising their hands in the forbidden “Roman salute” at the meeting. Left-wing groups and the opposition are outraged.
In Italy, videos of a neo-fascist gathering in Rome are causing a stir: hundreds of people at the event in the Italian capital stretched their right arms in the air and gave the fascist salute. The gesture is known in Italy as “saluto romano” (Roman greeting). Although it is banned in Italy, it is often shown at neo-fascist meetings.
The gathering in Rome took place on Sunday evening, but recently the videos spread rapidly on social media, sparking outrage across the country. Newspapers such as La Repubblica and La Stampa published a bird’s-eye video of the scene. “Corriere della Sera” published moving images that were filmed from the crowd.
People gathered on the anniversary of the so-called Acca Larentia murders. Left-wing terrorists shot two young neo-fascists on Via Acca Larentia on January 7, 1978, and a third died later. Since then, commemorations have been held annually in front of the former headquarters of the neo-fascist Movimento Sociale Italiano (MSI), a movement founded by fascists and Mussolini loyalists.
“Unacceptable!”
The videos show how people, mostly dressed in black, respond to the call “For all fallen comrades” with the shout “Presente!” (in German: present) answer and raise their right arms in the air in a fascist salute. After three repetitions of the greeting, the group disperses. A few hours earlier, an official memorial event with the President of the Lazio region, Francesco Rocca, took place at the same location.
The incident sparked widespread outrage among left-wing groups and the opposition. “Rome, January 7, 2024. And it feels like 1924. What happened is unacceptable,” wrote the social democratic opposition politician, Elly Schlein, on social media with a view to Italy under the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. She called on Italy’s right-wing government of Giorgia Meloni to take action against such incidents. Meloni has been governing with a right-wing alliance since October 2022. Her ultra-right party Fratelli d’Italia is a successor party to the MSI.