A fight in the Italian parliament over the far-right governmentThe country’s plans to grant regions more autonomy have caused an outcry, with some comparing the blow to the days of fascism.
The fighting broke out on Wednesday evening when Leonardo Donno, deputy of the Five Star Movement, unfurled an Italian flag in front of Regional Affairs Minister Roberto Calderoli of the pro-autonomy Northern League and kept an eye on him.
Donno’s stunt was intended to expose plans to grant more autonomy from Rome to regions that want it. Critics say it undermines Italy’s unity.
Giuseppe Conte via Facebook via Reuters
In response, Calderoli’s fellow League deputies left their benches en masse to storm Donno, and the incident degenerated into a free-for-all involving some twenty men.
Donno, injured in the clashes, had to be evacuated in a wheelchair before being sent to a hospital.
The brawl provoked a flood of reactions from political leaders and made the front pages of Italian newspapers. Many criticized the example of the elected representatives.
“The right is fighting in parliament,” lamented the newspaper La Repubblica, using a term for the post-World War I paramilitary forces that would later become fascist leader Benito Mussolini’s infamous Blackshirts.
Leading Italian daily Corriere della Sera said the house had been turned into a ‘boxing ring’.
Giuseppe Conte via Facebook via Reuters
Lawmakers from the League and the Brothers of Italy, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s party, accused Donno of provoking the incident and even faking his injuries.
The Five Star Movement denounced a “serious and shameful attack” and called for immediate measures.
“The violence comes from the banks of the Meloni majority… Shame,” the leader said, Giuseppe Contewrote on social media.
Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani acknowledged that lawmakers must be held to a higher standard, telling Sky TG24 that politicians “must set a completely different example.
“The House is not a boxing ring… it is not fistfights that solve political problems.”
Critics say the autonomy proposal will lead to cuts in public services in the poorest regions.
The scenes in Parliament are by no means unprecedented.
In 2021, delegates from the Brothers of Italy – who have post-fascist roots – stormed the center of the chamber to initiate a debate on the COVID-19 health pass.
