Deputy Premier, Transport Minister
and rightwing League party leader Matteo Salvini on Monday made
a "very cordial" phonecall to anti-gay general Roberto
Vannacci, League sources said.
Vannacci, 55, a former paratrooper commander has been replaced
as head of the military geographical institute over his
self-published book The World Back To Front, which slams gays,
Jews, migrants, environmentalists and feminists among others,
but insists he has not been removed by Defence Minister Guido
Crosetto, a heavyweight in Premier Giorgia Meloni's rightwing
Brothers of Italy (FdI) party.
Many FdI and League officials have defended Vannacci's right to
express his views under the Constitution's free-speech
provisions.
The centre-left opposition Democratic Party (PD) has said the
general's rights do not extend to denying some people's
existence while the Italian Left (SI) has likened FdI members'
defence of the general to cult satirical film character Doctor
Strangelove's doomed attempts to control his kneejerk Nazi
saluting arm.
"Today there was a phone call, a very cordial one, between
Salvini and General Vannacci" said the League sources.
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