Police and protesters clashed in the northern Italian city of Bologna on Sunday (November 8) as hundreds of people demonstrated against a planned
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Police and protesters clashed in the northern Italian city of Bologna on Sunday (November 8) as hundreds of people demonstrated against a planned rally by former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi and the leader of the Northern League (Lega Nord) Matteo Salvini.
Protesters slammed Salvini as “racist” for his anti-migrant views.
At least one police officer was reportedly injured.
Salvini had planned to meet with Berlusconi to discuss a real political alliance to unseat the ruling Democratic Party in the next election.
This is not a return to the past, to 1994, to the old ways, to the ‘coalitions-of-convenience’, Salvini explained. “Something new is beginning that is led by the League, but that is also wide open to all Italians who are now distant from and disgusted by politics.”
A heavy police presence had been planned to prevent clashes between Salvini supporters and left-wing radicals.
Berlusconi made just a brief appearance. Many people say the meeting of the right-wing League deliberately provoked those in the left-wing stronghold of Bologna.