Italian PM Meloni Condemns Attack On Party Youth Members: 'Painful Page In History Of Our Nation'

(MENAFN- Live Mint) Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Wednesday appealed to citizens to stand against political violence, following an assault on four members of her party's youth organisation. The attack took place on the 48th anniversary of the killing of three neo-fascist youths in Rome.

According to eyewitness accounts, the activists were beaten while putting up posters marking the January 7, 1978 deaths of three teenagers at Via Acca Larentia, a site that has long been associated with gatherings of Italy's far-right.

Reacting to the incident, Meloni described the 1978 episode as“a painful page in the history of our nation.” She said the period was marked by“dark years of terrorism and political hatred, in which too much innocent blood was shed, from multiple sides.”

The three teenagers who were killed belonged to the youth wing of the now-defunct Italian Social Movement (MSI), a neo-fascist party established after World War Two. Two were reportedly shot by left-wing militants, while the third died later the same day after being shot by a police officer during riots that followed.

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None of those responsible for the killings was ever convicted.

"We have the duty to preserve memory and to clearly reaffirm that political violence, in all its forms, is always a defeat. It is never justifiable. It must never return," Meloni said.

The four activists attacked on Wednesday were members of Gioventu Nazionale (National Youth), the youth wing of Brothers of Italy. None of them were believed to have been seriously hurt but their car had its windscreen smashed in.

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Meloni said Italy had "to choose respect, dialogue, and civil coexistence", adding: "When an idea is silenced by force, democracy loses. Always."

The Via Acca Larentia commemoration has traditionally been marked by hundreds of men making the stiff-armed Roman salute and shouting "present" -- a rallying cry of neofascists.

Meloni's Brothers of Italy party has historical links to the MSI, but the prime minister has repeatedly rejected claims that her party maintains strong connections with the far right. In 2023, she insisted her administration had no“nostalgia for fascism”.

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The following year, she took a tougher stance, stating that any party member who glorified Italy's fascist era should be removed from Brothers of Italy. Her remarks came after an undercover media report published footage showing party members performing fascist salutes and shouting“Sieg Heil”.

(With inputs from news agency Reuters)

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