ROME (AP) — Dozens raised their arms in a fascist salute and performed a fascist chant during ceremonies Sunday honoring Italian dictator Benito Mussolini on the 79th anniversary of his execution.
Dressed in black, neo-fascist supporters marched through northern Italian towns where Mussolini was arrested and executed at the end of World War II, and also in Predappio, the birthplace and final resting place of “Il Duce.”
Mussolini was arrested by anti-fascist partisans in Dongo, on the shores of Lake Como, on April 27, 1945, while trying to escape with his lover, Clara Petacci, after the Allied liberation of Italy.
On Sunday, a group of neo-fascists marched through Dongo and placed 15 roses in the lake in memory of the ministers and officials of Mussolini’s government who were murdered there, according to a video of the event published by the LaPresse news agency.
Partisans executed Mussolini and Petacci the next day in the nearby town of Mezzegra-Giulino, where commemorations were also held on Sunday. After the singing of a military anthem, the leader of the commemorations shouted “Comrade Benito Mussolini” and the crowd responded with the fascist salute with a stiff arm and the cry of “present.”
Police used several vehicles to separate protesters in Dongo from hundreds of protesters who sang the famous partisan song “Bella Ciao” during the ceremony.
The anniversary of Mussolini’s execution fell on the same day that Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni led her far-right Brothers of Italy party at an election rally in the city of Pescara. Brothers of Italy has its roots in the Italian Social Movement, which was founded in 1946 by a chief of staff in Mussolini’s last government and attracted fascist sympathizers and officials to its ranks after Mussolini’s fall.
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2024-05-01 05:23:35
