Anti-Northern League protesters blocked traffic in Flaminio square, a busy tram and bus stop area just outside the capital's central Piazza del Popolo.
The protesters lit flares, unfurled banners saying "We Reject Salvini", and are carried an inflatable boat in solidarity with refugees and asylum seekers sailing across the Mediterranean in unsafe boats.
Matteo Salvini, the head of the anti-immigrant, regionalist and anti-euro Northern League party, will attend a party rally in Piazza del Popolo on Saturday.
This has sparked a mobilization from leftwing grassroots movements, unions, and opposition parties, who vowed to march tomorrow under the banner "Never With Salvini".
Police in riot gear have encircled the protesters and blocked access to Piazza del Popolo.
They later charged the protesters after they had blocked traffic for an hour and a hal, driving them back to the opposite sidewalk of the busy Flaminio square.
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