Rightwing, anti-immigrant Northern
League leader Matteo Salvini told supporters in Rome Thursday
his party "is here to win".
He also said he would back Giorgia Meloni from the small
rightwing Brothers of Italy (FdI) party for mayor of Rome, but
"I can't force her".
He spoke amid heavy police presence as leftwing activists
were also on hand to voice their opposition, displaying a banner
that read "Salvini out of our neighborhood, racists and petty
pols go away".
Romans will be called on to elect a new mayor in mid-June.
Salvini has pulled his backing from former civil protection
chief Guido Bertolaso as centre-right candidate, though
Bertolaso is still backed by Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia
party as well as FdI.
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