Thousands of police deployed to keep the rallies apart as far-right ‘remigration’ initiative gains traction.By AFP and APPublished On 13 Jun 202613 Jun 2026Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets of the Italian capital for rival demonstrations over migration policy, as a far-right proposal seeking hardline migration measures is set to advance to discussion in parliament.An anti-migration march in Rom’s Prati neighbourhood on Saturday drew several thousand participants, while a competing pro-migration event in a separate part of the city attracted tens of thousands.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listThousands of police were also deployed to ensure the two rival groups would remain apart.The demonstrations come after a petition advocating for sweeping measures targeting foreigners – including coercive returns to their countries of origin – gathered the 50,000 signatures needed to trigger parliamentary discussion.Named “Remigration and Reconquest,” the petition has pushed the once-fringe concept of “remigration” – which in far-right contexts can mean the mass deportation of ethnic minorities – into the political mainstream.“We want to kick the illegal immigrants out – force them out, because they shouldn’t be here,” Luca Marsella, spokesman for the neofascist group Casapound, said at the anti-migrant rally Saturday.“And since we’re not politically correct, we’ll say we want to send the legal immigrants home, too – the ones who clearly haven’t assimilated or integrated.”On several occasions during the anti-migrant march, many participants raised their arms in a fascist salute, shouting “Duce! Duce!,” in reference to Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, reported The Associated Press. People hold a banner in Italian reading “Skin and sweat have the same colour, no deportation,” during a pro-migration march in Rome, June 13 [Gregorio Borgia/AP Photo]‘Incompatible with Italian constitution’The debate …
