Although 200,000 people have taken to the streets of Milan yesterday to demonstrate against racism and the immigration policies of the populist government in Rome, Italian Interior Minister and Lega chief Matteo Salvini has shown himself unimpressed. „I do not change my mind and I continue in the interest of the Italians,“ Salvini said on Facebook.
„Do not change my mind“
„Peaceful demonstrations are welcome, but I do not change my mind: you can only get to Italy with an immigration permit,“ says Salvini. He promised the continuation of his „tough fight against tugs, traffickers, mobsters and exploiters“.
Salvini said he could count on support from the electorate, as witnessed by the recent results of the regional elections in Abruzzo and Sardinia. The Lega reached 35.9 percent of the vote, according to the opinion poll conducted by the Ipsos polling firm, published by the Milan daily Corriere della Sera (Saturday edition). In the parliamentary election in March 2018, it had been 17.4 percent. The allied with the Lega five-star movement, however, dropped to a record low of 21.2 percent.
First big demo against immigration policy
The protest slogan with the slogan „People – First the People“ was the first such large-scale demonstration against the immigration policy of the government in Rome and against the strategy of the closed ports, which drives Salvini forward. „Another world is possible,“ chanted the protesters. Also present were members of NGOs active in refugee rescue in the Mediterranean, such as Sea-Watch from Germany and the Spanish Proactiva Open Arms. Activists of the NGO rolled out banners with the slogan „In the Mediterranean drowns Europe“.
