A political row has erupted after conservative Brothers of Italy (FdI) party leader Giorgia Meloni posted a video of police stopping a 27-year-old Guinean asylum seeker from raping a 55-year-old Ukrainian woman in the street in the northern town of Piacenza.
Former anti-migrant interior minister Matteo Salvini said he would visit Piacenza shortly to voice his support for the woman and highlight allegedly rising crime by migrants.
National League party head Salvini is the chief ally of Meloni, who is set to become Italy’s first post-fascist and first woman premier after the September 25 general election, according to opinion polls.
Both the FdI and the League have voiced alarm over allegedly higher crimes rates among immigrants and migrants.
Meloni has also railed against the “Islamization” of Europe.
She has announced a “naval blockade” if the centre right wins power next month, a move of dubious legality.
When he was interior minister fromm 2018 to 2019 Salvini banned NGO run migrant rescue ships from docking in Italy, a policy that has seen him since face several criminal proceedings.