Fascist symbols and rhetoric on rise in Italian EU vote
MILAN (AP) — "Honor to Mussolini" read the banner unfurled steps away from the Milan piazza where the Fascist dictator's body was hung upside down in 1945 by partisans after his summary execution. That this was the eve of the 74th anniversary of Italy's liberation from Nazi-fascism was not lost on the leader of the group of soccer hooligans with the banner as he gave the straight-armed fascist salute.
The next day, Italy's president, premier and defense minister attended April 25 Liberation Day commemorations in the capital. But hard-line interior minister Matteo Salvini, the xenophobic, euroskeptic political leader many believe can unite Europe's populist right, stayed away, a move that critics said gave a strong signal to far-right sympathizers ahead of European elections.
Not since Benito Mussolini's ignominious fall after failed attempts at making Italy a colonial power that gave Hitler the upper hand in their axis, has the executed former dictator's image carried such currency.
The perception is growing among Italians that fascism, officially banned as a political movement in Italy but never really vanquished from popular culture or the political fringe, is rearing its head in alarming ways.
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