Key Developments
On the 9th October 2021, the previous day to administrative ballots in many italian big-cities (such as Rome, Miland, Turin, etc.) several No-Green-Pass demonstrations have been organized all over Italy. In Rome the standing infiltration attempt by neofascist groups has succeded in leading members of far-right New Force (FN) and other tens of partecipants, storming against the Italian General Confederation of Workers (CGIL) trade union headquarter. The incapacity of authorities to manage public security during the demonstration has allowed a devastation of the ground floor of CGIL seat, with offices and fornitures ravaged.
Luckily none of the employees was on saturday afternoon on duty, so the squad attack hasn’t caused injuries. In the videos filmed during the assault, the national leader of FN and former neofascist terrorist, Roberto Fiore, toghether with his local ras, Luciano Castellino, speak on megaphones to call upon a dimonstrative action against trade unions, guilty in their opinions to have accepted the government will on the obligation of green-pass on the workplace. Police investigations led to the arrest of the FN chiefs and six other participants in the squad raid.
The attack to CGIL trade union recall the political violence practiced by the fascist fighting bands (‘fasci di combattimento’) in 1921, a sort of symbolic revival of the eve of the advent of Mussolini’s dictatorship in Italy.
The episode has brought widespread solidarity to CGIL with sit-ins at the trade union seats all over Italy on the following sunday, mainly organized by institutional antifascist associations – such as Italian National Partisans’ Association (ANPI) or Italian Cultural and Ricreative Association (ARCI). All political parties even from right-wing Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy (FdI) and Matteo Salvini’s League (Lega) have condemned the violent attack, though that the latters avoid to acknowledge the neofascist matrix and the conseguent recognition of fascism as a crime. On the other hand, moderate and left-wing parties have immediately proposed a ban against FN as a criminal organization. Due to the sensitive timeframe, regarding also the administrative ballots, the political debate has turned the attack into an argument to denounce dangerous connections between neofascist organizations and right-wing political parties. However, the discussion in the Parliament, taking place after the administrative elections, at the end hasn’t led to the banning of neo-fascist organizations, in order to safeguard the large-coalition Mario Draghi’s government.
Apart from the severity of the assault, the episode is emblematic from an international point of view to understand the links between ultranationalist, sovranist movements and their influence also on the decisions of democratic institutions.