Neo-fascist sentiment comes out of the shadows in Italy following shooting spree against immigrants
By Kheiro Magazine
The lawyer representing a man who injured six people says his client has received an ‘alarming’ amount of support
Neo-fascists in Italy seem to have been emboldened by a man who injured six people last weekend in a drive-by shooting spree targeting African immigrants in the central town of Macerata.
The 28-year-old attacker fired at random on groups of black people from inside an Alfa Romeo before being arrested while doing a fascist salute at the top of the city’s war memorial.
The man, who under Kheiro’s editorial policy we will not identify, claimed the shooting was to avenge the death of a local 18-year-old woman whose body was found the week before — even though the two had no personal connection. Police detained a 29-year-old Nigerian migrant in connection with the woman’s death, leading to Saturday’s racially motivated attack.
The shooter’s lawyer said he has received an “alarming” amount of support for his client, who on Tuesday told a judge he wasn’t sorry for what he’d done. His victims were from Nigeria, Mali and Ghana, and at least one suffered serious injuries that required surgery.
“Politically, there’s a problem,” his attorney Giancarlo Giulianelli said. “In Macerata, people stop me to give messages of solidarity with [him]. It’s alarming, but it gives us a sense of what is happening.”
A neo-fascist group has offered to pay the attacker’s legal expenses, and tributes have appeared both online and in public spaces, including a sign hung over a bridge in Rome.
Facebook groups have sprung up applauding his actions as something that “had to be done” to stop illegal immigration. “Honor to our comrade who was captured in Macerata,” one member posted. “This is just the beginning of our revenge: we need to arm ourselves and do as he did.” Italian sales of Mein Kampf have risen more than 1,000 percent on Amazon since the shooting.
“[The attack] really seems to have uncovered the most secret feelings of a part of Italy, this grim looking Nazism,” La Stampa wrote.
The tragedies started on Jan. 31, when18-year-old Pamela Mastropietro was found dead and dismembered, her body hidden in two suitcases, a few days after she ran away from a drug treatment center. Police detained a Nigerian man named Innocent Oseghale in connection with the crime, but so far he hasn’t been charged with murder. Oseghale said she overdosed and he panicked, leading a judge to rule that he be held on charges of hiding and contempt for a human body.
Right-wing politicians initially used Mastropietro’s death as campaign fodder for upcoming Parliamentary elections in March. Oseghale had requested and been denied asylum, but remained in Macerata while he waited to appeal.
Matteo Salvini, the head of the Lega Nord, claimed the ruling center-left Democratic Party had “blood on its hands” for allowing Oseghale to remain in the country, and vowed to deport 100,000 migrants in his first year of office if Lega Nord wins parliamentary control.
Saturday’s shooter had previously run unsuccessfully for a local position with the Lega Nord, forcing Salvini to try to distance himself somewhat from the attack. Soon after, though, Salvini attempted portray racial violence as inevitable if Italy does not block immigration from Africa and the Middle East.
“The moral responsibility of every incident of violence that happens in Italy is that of those who have filled it with illegal immigrants,” he said.
Members of the left were quick to call out Salvini for rebranding a terrorist shooting as a “social conflict.”
Center-left politicians such as Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni of the Democratic Party condemned the attack in strong terms and vowed to “immediately stop” anyone promoting violence.
Experts have recently identified a trend of rising admiration among young people for fascism, including historical fascist leaders such as Benito Mussolini, that may be linked to weak job prospects and depressed salaries. Following the shooting, the president of the National Association of Italian Partisans, Carla Medlar, warned of a return of fascism that needs to be fought “with great resolve.”
It’s not clear though what steps — if any — might be taken as Italy is forced to confront demons that previously seemed swept under the rug.
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