NAPLES, Italy – Riot police moved in Saturday to quell violent protests in Naples sparked by the first major rally in the southern city by the anti-immigrant Northern League leader.
Police fired tear gas and water cannons against the protesters, who tossed bottles, rocks and Molotov cocktails their way.
The protesters were a violent offshoot of an otherwise peaceful march through Naples by people opposed to Matteo Salvini and his anti-euro, anti-immigrant movement.
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A few dozen protesters toting a banner “Naples doesn’t want you” occupied the convention centre on Friday where Salvini was due to speak. The Interior Ministry intervened to make sure the rally could go ahead.
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The Northern League has its base in Italy’s affluent north and has long criticized the tax money Rome funnels to the poorer, less-developed south. But the League in recent years has tried to make inroads in the south, capitalizing on anti-immigrant, populist sentiment and, more recently, poor showings by the Democratic Party.
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