The video is horrifying: a thousand nostalgic fascists raise their arms, performing the Roman salute, shouting “present” in front of the Rome headquarters of the post-fascist Italian Social Movement party (MSI). They did it, this Sunday, to remember the Acca Larentia massacre, where three MSI militants were murdered in 1978, during the turbulent Years of Lead, at the hands of a far-left squad.
The demonstration is not new: it takes place every January 7 in this place in the Italian capital, but in this edition the images have generated fierce criticism from the opposition against the Government of Giorgia Meloni, whose party, Brothers of Italy, is heir MSI politician.
The progressive parties have accused the Executive of giving cover to the fascist greetings because they were preceded by an official act that occurred before the video that has become viral on social networks, and in which both the president of the region was present from Lazio, Francesco Rocca (from Brothers of Italy), like the Councilor for Culture of the City Council of Rome, Miguel Gotor (from the Democratic Party), who wanted to attend to remove ideological weight from the event.
“Rome, January 7, 2024. And it seems like 1924. We will present a question to the Minister (of the Interior, Matteo) Piantedosi, what happened is not acceptable. Neofascist organizations must be dissolved, as the Constitution says,” said PD leader Elly Schlein. “This image seems to be dated exactly one hundred years ago, in 1924, and instead it is from last night,” also lamented Senator Enrico Borghi, of the centrist Italia Viva party. Rocca responded that the fascist greetings did not occur during the official event: “I would not have hesitated to stigmatize them and distance myself from them,” he promised.
Meloni, who has always asked to clarify this murder, continues to have problems every time images of this type are produced. Despite having publicly renounced fascism, Brothers of Italy maintains in its symbol the tricolor flame, the emblem of the MSI youth organization in which he was active during his youth.
