A 20-year-old woman from Congo
on Wednesday pushed and shoved rightwing League leader Matteo
Salvini, ripping his shirt and breaking off the rosary around
his neck, as he arrived for an election rally at Pontassieve
near Florence.
The young woman was in "a clear state of psycho-physical
excitation", police said.
They said her actions did not appear to have been premeditated.
They said she found herself alongside Salvini as she was
returning from work.
Separately, a group of young leftists and anarchists protested
Salvini's visit.
The woman was part of a crowd that had gathered for the League
leader's arrival.
The League is a populist and nationalist anti-migrant and
Euroskeptic party.
Salvini said his assailant "should be ashamed of herself".
He said "anyone can have political, footballing, and religious
ideas that are different, but violence no: I can buy another
shirt, but ripping from my neck a rosary that a priest gave to
me is something out of this world".
The League leader often kisses his rosary in public, and has
been criticised by Italian bishops for making political capital
out of his professions of faith.
"The nice thing I take away from Pontassieve," Salvini went on,
"is not that poor woman, but a lady who told me 'Matteo, I don't
think like you, but I apologise on behalf of that idiot, if you
want I'll buy you a coffee'."
Tuscany is one of seven Italian regions going to the polls to
elect new governors and a new government on September 20-21.
Elections will also take place in Val d'Aosta, Campania,
Liguria, Marche, Puglia and Veneto.
Elections will also be held in 1,137 out of 7,904 Italian
municipalities, including 18 provincial capitals.
They are: Agrigento, Andria, Aosta, Arezzo, Bolzano, Chieti,
Crotone, Enna, Fermo, Lecco, Macerata, Mantua, Matera, Nuoro,
Reggio Calabria, Trani, Trento and Venice.
Three of these are also regional capitals: Aosta, Trento and
Venice.
In a referendum over the same two days, Italians will be asked
whether they approve a law that amends the Italian Constitution
to reduce the number of MPs in parliament, from 630 to 400 in
the Chamber of Deputies and from 315 to 200 in the Senate.
Parties are divided on the reduction in MPs, which will bring
their numbers down from 945 to 600.
Some, like government partners the 5-Star Movement and the
Democratic Party, see it as a necessary streamlining and
cost-cutting of politics.
Others say democratic representation is at risk.
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