The murder of American right-wing activist Charlie Kirk has become a subject of lively discussions in Italian political circles, Italian media outlets, including ANSA, “TG Com 24“, “Sky TG 24“, “Corriere della Sera“ and “RAI News“, BTA reports.
In an interview with “Corriere della Sera“, Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, who is the leader of the Italian far-right party “Lega“, said that what happened in the US has affected him like never before. "There is a before and now," he added, adding that he himself cried when he saw young people praying for Kirk's survival shortly after he was shot during a public event at the University of Utah on Wednesday. Kirk died shortly afterwards.
Salvini also criticized some of the reactions to Kirk's murder, saying that left-wing parties had neither shown sympathy nor condemned the attack, but instead blamed the victim or US President Donald Trump. According to Salvini, Kirk's murder had generated "a flood of anger and malice that was no longer hidden and was expressed with a smile and without shame."
The Italian Prime Minister, the representative of the conservative right in Italy, Giorgia Meloni, has commented on the murder of Charlie Kirk three times. On the day of the murder, she wrote on her social media: “Shocking news about the murder of Charlie Kirk, a young and popular Republican activist. A disgusting murder that leaves a deep wound for democracy and for those who believe in freedom. My condolences to his family, loved ones and the American conservative community“.
On the day it was reported that on the shell casing at the crime scene, Kirk's alleged killer also made a reference to the Italian anti-fascist song “Bella Ciao“, a photo appeared in Italy showing Kirk upside down with “minus 1“ written on it. Meloni commented on this with the words: “These are the alleged anti-fascists. This is the climate in Italy now too. Nobody will say anything, that's why I'm saying it. We will not let ourselves be paid“.
The photo was posted by Italian center-left student groups. The presentation of Kirk's image upside down in it showed that the creators of the image were making a reference between his murder and that of Benito Mussolini, whose body was hanged after his death upside down in Milan's Piazzale Loreto, ANSA reported.
Regarding this photo, Luca Chiriani, the minister for parliamentary relations in Meloni's cabinet, said that the murder of Kirk, who was also a supporter of Donald Trump, shows that there is a climate of hatred coming from the left in the Italian political spectrum. "A 31-year-old conservative influencer was killed in the US and some intellectuals are even saying on television that he deserved it," Ciriani said, ANSA reports.
Yesterday, Meloni also gave a speech at an event of the Union of Christian Democrats and Centrists. The Italian Prime Minister said that at this historical moment, hatred and political violence are once again becoming a reality in a dramatic way and in Italy too, this climate is becoming intolerable and the left must be held accountable for this constant belittling or justification of crime and violence against those who do not think like it, ANSA reported.