A deputy from Salvini’s League punched one of the M5S in the Italian parliament

“A very serious and shameful incident,” is how the M5S commented in a note the attack perpetrated by one of its deputies this afternoon during a session of the Chamber of Deputies. Igor Iezzi, a deputy of Matteo Salvini’s League, punched deputy Leonardo Donà, who then fell to the ground and was taken out of Montecitorio in a wheelchair. A staff member who intervened to try to restore order was also injured. “Iezzi punched him several times in the head and he fell to the ground,” said Nicola Fratoini, leader of the Italian Left, who was present in the Chamber and quoted by the newspaper. Republic

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The episode took place during the debate on a reform promoted by the Giorgia Meloni government and signed by League minister Roberto Calderoli, which grants greater autonomy to the regions. A reform that is strongly opposed by the opposition, which accuses the government of “breaking up Italy” by deepening the inequalities between one region and another, between the north and south of the country. During the debate, the opposition protested by singing the national anthem or Bella ciao and waving Italian flags. Dono, the M5S deputy who suffered the attack, was expelled after trying to give one of those flags to minister Calderoli. At the same time, a group of right-wing deputies arrived and that’s when the attack occurred.

“Our deputy only wanted to give an Italian flag to Minister Calderoli when he was physically attacked by the majority of MPs, including Legista

Izzi was punched and fell to the ground. We demand serious and immediate measures,” reads a note from the M5S. Its leader Giuseppe Conte denounced: “This is a strife within institutions, it stains our democracy and qualifies those who have carried it out. Take your hands off the tricolor. You will not pass. What a shame”.

“These are things that must not and cannot be seen in this Chamber, just a few days before the ceremony commemorating the centenary of Matteotti’s murder. Do not think of abolishing our opposition rights against the reforms by which they are dividing Italy and distorting the Constitution,” commented Elie Schlein, secretary of the Democratic Party, in reference to Giacomo Matteotti, the socialist politician murdered by fascists on June 10, 1924.