Hailing Hitler, mocking Anne Frank: Italy probes 24 over racist event in Jewish area
Investigator says suspects being investigated for promoting fascism; they threatened to kill other diners, refused to stop even after police arrived, insulted Black Italian athlete
Italian police on Wednesday raided the homes of 24 people who are under investigation for promoting fascism during a gathering at a restaurant in the Jewish quarter of Ferrara at which they lauded dictators Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler.
The suspects are all residents of the northern Italian city in their 20s and 30s who attended a December 20 gathering where they passed out material that praised Hitler and Mussolini, and insulted Anne Frank and the Black Italian athlete Fiona May, said investigator Andrea Zaccone.
The suspects wore orange prison uniforms common in the United States to the gathering, but it wasn’t clear why.
The group threatened to kill other diners who interrupted their racist choruses, and refused to stop even after police responded to complaints, according to the investigator.
The suspects are under investigation for inciting racial hatred and “apology of fascism,” a crime in Italy that extols Italy’s fascist past and seeks to revive the fascist party.
During the raids, police recovered orange prison uniforms, a fake pistol, chains, knives and batons, as well as printed material, including calendars, with Mussolini’s image. Electronic devices seized in the raids were being studied to see if the incident was a one-off or part of a larger pattern.
Antisemitic incidents have spiked in Italy since the Hamas terror group’s October 7 massacres, which saw thousands of terrorists invade southern Israel, brutally murdering some 1,200 people and taking 253 others hostage under cover of rocket fire from Gaza.
Israel responded with a military campaign aimed at toppling the Hamas regime in Gaza and freeing the hostages, which has drawn global ire as the Palestinian death toll mounts.
