The demonstrators, who included League supporters from across the nation and right-wing leaders from other EU countries, attended the closing event of Salvini’s campaign for the May 26 European parliamentary elections.
Joining Salvini on stage, far-right and nationalist leaders and MPs from 11 countries shared with demonstrators their vision for Europe.
They included Marine Le Pen of France’s National Rally (Rassemblement Nationale), Geert Wilders of the anti-Islam Dutch Party for Freedom (Partij voor de Vrijheid), and Jorg Meuthen of the anti-migrant Alternative for Germany (Alternative fur Deutschland or AfD).
Demonstrators chanted “Italy is our home” and “Free Italy”, as well as “Europe is Christian, not Muslim”.
The also displayed banners with slogans including “Close the ports” and “Italians first”.
“There are no extremists, racists or fascists in this square,” Salvini said.
“Here you won’t find the far-right, but the politics of good sense.
“The extremists are those who have governed Europe for the past 20 years.”
The anti-immigrant League party does not want Italy to leave the eurozone or even the EU, but Salvini does want to push reform in Brussels, notably to loosen rules on national debt.
Opinion polls predict the League could garner 30 per cent of Italian votes next Sunday, winning the EU elections in Italy.
This would likely make the League the second-largest party in the European Parliament after Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands).
