Matteo Salvini was the Deputy Prime Minister in Italy until the end of last year. He has been held responsible for a lot of the far right anti-immigration hate in Italy and has also been reported as saying he wanted a “mass-cleansing” of the country. Shortly after becoming Interior Minister and Deputy Prime Minister,  Salvini announced his intention to conduct a compulsory census of Italians in order to identify and deport Roma people from the country.

On 12th February the Italian senate formally authorised a criminal case against Salvini,  This is due to Salvini allegedly depriving 131  asylum-seekers, who were on board the Gregoretti coastguard ship, of their liberty, by not allowing them to disembark.  He will now be tried for kidnapping.

Unfortunately Salvini’s right-wing views have had support both in Italy and in other areas of the world. In 2018 Salvini ‘s party, The League, formed a global network of supporters. Some of The League’s supporters are in the UK and have organised a dinner at a restaurant in Liverpool for 28th March 2020, which has caused outrage amongst residents of Liverpool. The advert implies that Salvini will be present. However, since it was first published, Salvini has denied this,  saying that he will not be present, and that: “What is happening there is not a rally, but a dinner among supporters of the League in Liverpool – they are going to eat fish and chips.”

The Mayor of Liverpool, Steve Rotheram, said “division and hate” was not welcome in Liverpool and “the only audience he’ll find here is one that won’t be shy in telling him what they think of fascists like him.”

Liverpool has a strong history of opposing far-right visits to the city and standing up for what is right. They have had a 30-year boycott refusing to sell The Sun newspaper after the Hillsborough disaster.  We expect this event will not be ignored and that, if it does go ahead, there will most likely be protests and rallies.