Another scandal around Lazio Rome supporters. The Union of Jewish Communities in Italy (UCEI) protested on Wednesday against fascist salutes and slogans in honor of Mussolini featured on a video shot at the Roman team stadium.
The video, which has gone viral on social media, shows a man with an impressively sized eagle perched on his arm (the bird symbolizing Lazio) giving the fascist salute to the fans, who in return shout “Duce!” Duce! », The title given to dictator Benito Mussolini, in power between 1922 and 1945, founder of the Italian fascist movement and ally of Adolf Hitler during World War II. “Duce”, which means “guide”, is the equivalent of “Führer” in German.
Lazio, who face Olympique de Marseille in the Europa League on Thursday, announced the suspension of a contractor, filmed in “attitudes that offend the club, the supporters and the values to which the community refers”. “In the face of the ostentation of gestures and symbols evoking fascist ideals, there can be no ambiguity and procrastination,” UCEI President Noemi Di Segni said in a statement.
According to the Italian sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport, the video was shot after Lazio’s victory on Saturday against Inter Milan (3-1). “The behavior of the trainer of the eagle Olimpia, emblem of Lazio, immortalized in a video that has gone viral, leaves no doubt. The club and the federation (Italian football, editor’s note) must intervene with the greatest urgency and efficiency, ”said Ms. Di Segni.
Many precedents with fascist tifosis
The club said for its part that the eagle trainer was not an employee of Lazio and that he was employed by a service provider. “Measures have been taken towards the company aimed at the immediate suspension of the person concerned and the possible termination of existing contracts,” said the club in a statement posted on its site.
Lazio, which has the reputation of having decidedly fascist tifosi, has already been sanctioned in the past by UEFA for the behavior of its supporters. In 2005, the team’s captain, Paulo Di Canio, who shares the ideas of this extremist fringe, made a Nazi salute to their address after a goal.
Two and a half years ago, others had paid homage to the dictator with a banner “Honor to Benito Mussolini”, deployed in Piazzale Loreto in Milan (north), where his body had been exposed and then hung upside down in 1945 after his execution by the Italian resistance fighters. In 2018 again, they had spread on the lawn of the Olympic Stadium stickers bearing the effigy of Anne Franck, one of the most famous victims of the Holocaust, wearing the jersey of the Roman rival, AS Rome … Finally, in February last, it is a grandson of the dictator who had signed a professional contract with the club.
