The Italian right-wing party "Italian Brothers" of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni rejected the accusations of fascism directed at her youth wing, world agencies and BTA reported.
In an investigation last week of the information site "Fanpage" were published footage taken with a hidden camera in Rome by a journalist who had infiltrated the ranks of the "National Youth" - the youth movement of Prime Minister Meloni's party. The footage showed members of the youth movement shouting in praise of Benito Mussolini, giving fascist salutes and chanting Nazi slogans.
"The journalistic investigation is based on fragmented and out-of-context footage taken in a private environment," said Luca Ciriani, minister for relations with parliament and a member of Meloni's party.
In one of the videos filmed during the meeting, the leader of the "National Youth" as it seems to say how the movement could fraudulently acquire public funds.
"National Movement" has never carried out attacks against left-wing organizations, nor has it publicly displayed slogans with extremist messages or with references to Nazism or fascism, Chiriani emphasized during a parliamentary session.
According to Michela Di Biaze, an MP from the opposition Democratic Party, her political power is extremely disturbed by the results of the journalistic investigation. According to her, the footage is a glorification of fascism and it is about boys and girls who mythologize people who stained the history of Italy with the blood of the persecutions.
The laws in Italy prohibit glorifying or justifying fascism. But they have rarely been applied, notes France Press.
As a young woman, Prime Minister Meloni was a member of the youth wing of the Italian Social Movement, which was made up of supporters of Mussolini after World War II.