On a street in Rome, dozens of people – dressed in black, lined up in tight militia-like rows – raised their arms in a collective fascist salute, and shouted the same watchword in unison: "Present!" Images of this gesture, broadcast after a rally of neo-fascist activists was held in the Italian capital on Sunday, January 7, have been fuelling controversy in the country, with opposition parties calling on Giorgia Meloni's government to condemn the public use of a gesture, the Roman salute, which is a symbol of Benito Mussolini's fascist dictatorship.
The rally in question – an annual event – is a tribute to three young far-right activists who were killed on January 7, 1978, in Via Acca Larenzia, Rome. At the time, Italy was in the throes of the Years of Lead, marked by terrorist attacks and violent confrontations between the far-left and the far-right. Sunday's gathering of activists was held at the spot where the three victims fell, the deaths of two of them having been attributed to a far-left group. The site, sandwiched between two suburban apartment blocks, had previously been home to a branch of the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement (MSI), which was founded in the post-war period by former Fascist cadres and a distant ancestor of Meloni's Fratelli D'Italia party.
The January 7 demonstration, which takes place every year under police surveillance, is part of a ritual shared by the various neo-fascist groups in Rome. It is held several hours apart from a more institutional tribute to the victims, which is held in the same place by figures from a variety of political backgrounds. While the event went relatively unnoticed in 2023, the opposition has seized on this year's rally, urging the government to condemn it and to cut ties with its underlying spirit, as the history of Meloni's political party is linked to that of Italy's neo-fascist right.
"Rome, January 7, 2024. And it looks like 1924," commented Elly Schlein, secretary of the Democratic Party (PD, center-left), in reaction to the released images of the paramilitary-looking crowd that gathered on Sunday. "What happened is unacceptable. Neo-fascist organizations must be dissolved, as the Constitution stipulates," she declared, criticizing Meloni for having remained silent on the subject.
A vice-president of the Chamber of Deputies, Sergio Costa, of the 5-Star Movement (M5S, populist), meanwhile, announced that a complaint had been filed to "determine the possible offenses committed, including condoning fascism." In a separate case dating from 2016, the highest court in Italy is due to rule on January 18 on whether the Roman salute, performed as part of a commemoration, could constitute a crime.
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