Rome Hosts Competing Demonstrations Over Migration Policy

ROME — Tens of thousands of demonstrators filled Rome’s streets on Saturday for rival rallies on migration, following a far‑right citizens’ initiative that collected the signatures needed to bring its sweeping anti‑migrant proposal before parliament.

The initiative’s petition, titled “Remigration and Reconquest,” reached the 50,000‑signature threshold required to trigger a parliamentary debate, pushing the once‑marginal idea of remigration into the mainstream. A vote date has not yet been set.

Backed by right‑wing groups, the proposal calls for sweeping measures against foreigners, such as forced returns, incentives to depart Italy, and other policies that critics warn could also affect legal residents.

Several thousand anti‑migration protesters from across Italy assembled, singing the national anthem. At times, many raised their arms in a fascist salute and chanted “Duce! Duce!”—a reference to Benito Mussolini, Italy’s dictator from 1922 to 1943.

In a counter‑demonstration, tens of thousands of pro‑migration supporters marched through a different part of Rome on Saturday evening. The rally drew left‑wing groups, trade unions, and participants waving Palestinian flags.

Authorities deployed thousands of police officers to keep the opposing groups separate, and no violence was reported.

The migration debate poses a delicate balancing act for Premier Giorgia Meloni’s right‑wing coalition. While the anti‑immigration League supports opening the discussion, Meloni’s Brothers of Italy and its centrist partners remain wary of endorsing a measure tied to extremist factions, citing legal concerns and internal party divisions.

Critics, including opposition parties and legal experts, contend that the proposal would breach constitutional and international anti‑discrimination rules by targeting individuals on the basis of ethnic origin, affecting naturalized citizens and their descendants.

The controversy unfolds even as Meloni’s government advances a parallel strategy to expand legal migration, having approved a multi‑year plan to admit hundreds of thousands of non‑EU workers to fill labor shortages in crucial sectors.

The Rome demonstrations took place just one day after a new set of EU regulations governing irregular migration and asylum seekers entered into force across the bloc’s 27 member states.

The European Migration and Asylum Pact, the result of years of arduous negotiations, replaces a system widely viewed as ineffective and one that had empowered far‑right parties with a potent electoral issue.

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