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| By: Associated Press |
| Published: April 26, 2006 |
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Anti-Israeli demonstrations in Milan on Tuesday on the sidelines of a march celebrating the 61st anniversary of Italy's liberation from fascism prompted immediate condemnation from politicians and representatives of the country's Jewish community.
The ANSA news agency reported that demonstrators near the Liberation Day commemorative march, which traditionally is attended by aging former partisans, trampled and burned two Israeli flags.
The Apcom agency reported that Israeli flags were trampled and state RAI television news reported that demonstrators yelled "Intifada," in support of the Palestinian uprising.
Center-left leader Romano Prodi, who won Italy's election last week, condemned the "vile demonstration of intolerance."
"I am profoundly outraged by this act, which I condemn firmly," Prodi said in a statement. "Acts such as these offend the Italian people and all of those who have peace in the Middle East at heart."
Tuesday was a national holiday in Italy, where an anti-Nazi partisan uprising began April 25, 1945, and police in Milan said that no one was immediately available to discuss the incident.
The anti-Israeli demonstrations reportedly were prompted by the presence in the march of Israeli flags in honor of members of the Jewish Infantry Brigade Group, which helped liberate Italy.
"It's a very grave act," Claudio Morpurgo, president of the union of Italian Jewish communities, told ANSA. "Some hooligans brought up acts and words that appear to be anti-Israeli, but really hide an anti-Jewish resurgence."
The anniversary marks the day the Italian resistance movement issued an order of general insurrection, which ended with Fascist Party dictator Benito Mussolini being shot and strung up outside a Milan gas station, along with his mistress. |
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