The leader of the Brotherhood in Italy, the far-right party, which preferred to win the Italian parliament on Sunday, sparked outrage on Wednesday after posting a video clip in which he makes a “Roman” salute, similar to a fascist ritual.
Romano La Rosa, brother of the co-founder of Fratelli d’Italia (FdI – Irmãos de Itália), appeared in the video, which has since been circulated on social media, with his arm outstretched during a party held on a street in Milan (North), on the 19th of this month.
The security officer of the Lombardy region, of which Milan is the capital, was attending the personal funeral of the Italian neo-fascist right-winger Alberto Stapelini, who was also his brother-in-law.
The Minister of Regional Security of Lombardy, Romano La Rosa (of the FDI), is seen giving a fascist salute at the funeral of a historic far-right militant. https://t.co/xRaESQBXDv
Andrea RBG Hate (ClassicalSocdem) account September 21 2022
For Romano La Rosa, it was a “military tradition, not a fascist salute.”
“When you swear allegiance to the Italian Republic as a soldier, the oath requires you to salute with outstretched arms. And are they all fascists? No, it’s the same thing,” he said, emphasizing that the dead man was a soldier.
“Fascism is dead and gone: Communism remains,” Romano La Rossa was quoted by Italian news agency ANSA as saying.
For the president of the Lombardy region, Attilio Fontana, a member of the League that ran in the elections in alliance with the Brothers of Italy and Forza Italia (FI) of Silvio Berlusconi, these are “behaviours that are not part of the vision” of three parties.
Former center-left Prime Minister Matteo Renzi condemned what he called a “utterly abhorrent gesture”, acknowledging, however, that there was no danger of fascism returning to Italy.
Several political leaders have called for Romano La Rosa’s measure to be brought to justice for “apologizing for fascism.”
The Italian penal code provides for the crime of apology, but recent jurisprudence maintains that the crime does not arise automatically if the will of an organized reorganization of fascism is not clear.
The Italian brothers’ administration has not yet commented on the incident.
A parliamentary candidate from the Italian Brotherhood was suspended, on Tuesday, from performing his internal duties after praising Adolf Hitler on social media.
“Hardcore alcohol maven. Hipster-friendly analyst. Introvert. Devoted social media advocate.”
