The torches in homage to the Russian activist Alexei Navalny,
who died in prison in Siberia.
The flowers as a symbol of freedom, left in front of his photo to express support for Vladimir Putin's dissidents.
Italian politics gathers on the Campidoglio hill in Rome for the demonstration organized by the leader of Action Carlo Calenda.
Who reiterates: "I'm happy that all the political forces are here today."
The answer is bipartisan and comes from all parties, without exception.
But in a crowded square, as in Parliament
, distinctions and divisions emerge.
With mutual attacks that are launched from every area of the hemicycle.
What warmed things up was above all the arrival of the leader of the League in the Senate Massimiliano Romeo, greeted by whistles and chants of protest.
"Shame, shame" shout several demonstrators with torches in their hands.
"Where is Putin's sweatshirt? And the 49 million? Go to Moscow", they add ironically.
He crosses the square followed by the group of cameras and responds in kind: "here are the democrats, we respond to insults with a smile, we don't fall for your provocations".
Video Navalny, League protested at the torchlight procession in Rome: 'Hypocrites, shame on you'
Navalny: torchlight procession in Rome
For further information Agenzia ANSA Piantedosi: identifications do not harm freedom - News - Ansa.it The Minister of the Interior commented on the episode in which the police in Milan identified some citizens who were honoring Navalny's memory by laying flowers: "It has also happened to me in life to be identified, it is not a fact that compresses any personal freedom."
(HANDLE)
The atmosphere becomes warm immediately under the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, after days of controversy in which the League was accused of taking too soft a position on Navalny's death.
The deputy secretary Andrea Crippa had given up on "pointing those responsible", at least until the analysis of "objective evidence".
And in fact, in the words of leader Matteo Salvini, the League is in the streets to "ask for clarity".
The Northern League secretary is not present, and so it is the president of the senators who clarifies the line.
"We don't know what happened" in Russia, he reiterates, and insists: "It's clear that the thought goes to something very negative, the suspicion has also come to us."
Then, pressed by reporters, he adds: "that the opposition leader ends up being assassinated is a shameful and serious thing."
To those who ask him if the presence of the League in the square is not hypocritical, he reacts firmly: "A hypocrite is someone who calls themselves liberal and democratic and then wants to ban the League from the square, which instead is here to defend freedom".
When someone recalls his party's relations with Putin, he points the finger elsewhere: "There was someone who shook hands and, with a Forza Milano, said that Putin was a character who deserved all the attention in the world" .
And there are many in the square who read in Romeo's words an allusion to the creation of a Forza Italia club in the Lombardy capital dedicated to the Russian president.
Giovanni Donzelli for Fratelli d'Italia and Calenda defend Romeo from insults.
But it is Riccardo Magi who keeps the controversy high.
The secretary of +Europa recalls the League's "support for Putin" and explains regarding the protest: "I think it was obvious and a bit natural, participation is welcome if it is not done in a clever and hypocritical way".
But the League is not the only target among the various political forces.
Enrico Borghi, group leader of Italia Viva in the Senate, not only recalls the "collaboration protocol between the League and United Russia", but attacks the 5 stars head-on: "every quarter of an hour they explain to us that we must stop sending weapons to Ukraine , creating the conditions for a Putin victory."
He blunts the Movement's response.
"Enough exploitation", group leaders Francesco Silvestri and Stefano Patuanelli say in the square.
"Asking for peace is not in contradiction with the condemnation of Navalny's murder," explains Vice President Ricciardi.
Giuseppe Conte, who does not participate in the demonstration, "bows before the battles" of the Russian activist, even if he does not share "all of his political positions".
The Democratic Party, as well as Fdi, which with Donzelli recalls "a beautiful evening for Western values", decides not to enter into the dispute.
"We are here - says Secretary Schlein - against a regime that does not tolerate freedom, the responsibility for Navalny's death lies with Putin's regime".
While Roberto Gualtieri speaks from the stage, there are not many frontmen of the parties in the square.
In addition to Conte and Salvini, Renzi is missing, but all the parties are present between group leaders and front rows.
Among the torches also the CGIL and the CISL, with the secretaries Maurizio Landini and Luigi Sbarra.
And then the diplomats of 35 countries: all 27 EU embassies plus 8 non-EU ones, including the United States, were present.
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