In Europe there is no place for the
Fascist salute, European People's Party (EPP) President Manfred
Weber said Tuesdayon the episode in Rome on Sunday involving
hundreds of far right militants at a ceremony marking the 46th
anniversary of the deaths of three far-right youth militants
allegedly by far left militants outside the headquarters of the
former headquarters of the neoFascist Italian Social Movement
(MSI).
"In Europe there is no place for the Fascist salute and we
condemn it in the strongest terms," said Weber.
"We fully agree with and welcome the clear position taken by
Deputy Premier Antonio Tajani on this issue," he added.
On Monday Tajani said his centre-right Forza Italia party, a
member of the EPP, is "anti-fascist" and that "all
demonstrations of support for dictatorships must be condemned".
"There is a law stating that you cannot make an apology of
fascism in our country, it is forbidden by law," he added.
The salutes, made during a ceremony recalling the Acca Larentia
massacre in which two members of the youth wing of MSI, Franco
Bigonzetti and Francesco Ciavatta, aged 13 and 17, were shot
dead, allegedly by far left militants, outside the party's Rome
headquarters in the street named after a Roman goddess.
A third MSI youth wing member, Stefano Recchioni, 19, was
fatally injured by a stray bullet during ensuing clashes by
members of the youth wing, the Fronte della Gioventù, who rioted
after the deaths, and police.
Then Fronte della Gioventù leader Gianfranco Fini, later a
foreign minister in Forza Italia founder Silvio Berlusconi's
second government from 2001 to 2006, was wounded by a gas
canister.
Photo:Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani (L) and Manfred
Weber attend a meeting of the EPP in Bruxelles, Belgium, on
November 13, 2023.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
