Tens of thousands rally in Rome for rival pro- and anti-migration marches
Rival demonstrations over migration policy drew tens of thousands in Rome on Saturday, as a far-right 'remigration' petition gathers enough signatures for parliamentary debate.
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of the Italian capital on Saturday for competing demonstrations over migration policy. An anti-migration march in Rome's Prati neighborhood drew several thousand participants, while a pro-migration event in another part of the city attracted tens of thousands. Thousands of police were deployed to keep the two groups apart.
The protests come as a petition advocating for hardline measures against foreigners — including forced returns to their countries of origin — collected the 50,000 signatures needed to trigger parliamentary discussion. Titled “Remigration and Reconquest,” the petition has pushed the once-fringe concept of “remigration,” which in far-right contexts can mean mass deportation of ethnic minorities, into the political mainstream.
“We want to kick the illegal immigrants out — force them out, because they shouldn’t be here,” said Luca Marsella, spokesman for the neofascist group Casapound, at the anti-migrant rally. “And since we’re not politically correct, we’ll say we want to send the legal immigrants home, too — the ones who clearly haven’t assimilated or integrated.” During the march, many participants raised their arms in a fascist salute, shouting “Duce! Duce!” in reference to Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.
The debate on migration is a delicate balancing act for Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing coalition. While the anti-migration League party supports opening discussion on the petition, Meloni’s Brothers of Italy and centrist allies have been more cautious. Critics, including opposition parties and legal experts, argue the proposal would violate constitutional and international anti-discrimination principles by targeting people based on ethnic background, including naturalized citizens and their descendants. The controversy comes even as Meloni’s government pursues a parallel policy of expanding legal migration, approving a multiyear plan to admit hundreds of thousands of non-EU workers to address labor shortages in key sectors.
