Italy’s far-right leader comes under fire for tweeting alleged rape video

The far-right candidate who aspires to be Italy’s first female leader came under fire Monday from opponents for posting a pixelised video that purports to show a woman being raped an asylum-seeker.
Giorgia Meloni, the leader of the Brothers of Italy party that has neo-fasc roots, on Sunday evening reposted a video on Twitter from an Italian news site that was taken a witness from a window overlooking the street. The woman, identified as Ukrainian, can be heard yelling in dress.
A 27-year-old asylum-seeker from Guinea has been arrested in the sexual assault, according to Italian media reports.
“One cannot remain silent front of this atrocious episode of sexual violence in broad daylight in Piacenza an asylum-seeker,” Meloni wrote.“A hug for this woman. I will do everything possible to restore security to our cities.”
Her main opponent in the Sept. 25 vote, Democratic Party leader Enrico Letta, countered in a radio interview that reposting the video went beyond “the bounds of dignity and decency.”
A former education miner, Lucia Azzolina, said posting the alleged rape video “is not an official criminal complaint, but instrumentalisation” of violence.
“(Seeing) a woman, candidate to run the country, using this media, is chilling,” Azzolina said.
And Carlo Calenda, leader of a small, new centr party called Action, said “Meloni has done something not worthy of a civilized country, and against women.” Meloni’s allusion to security in Italian cities is a right-wing theme in this election campaign, which also hits at immigration.
She was backed coalition partner Matteo Salvini, the leader of the right-wing League party and former firebrand interior miner, who pledged that “defending our borders and Italians will be a duty for me, not a right.”
In a video response to Letta’s criticism, Meloni emphasised that no one is identifiable in the video and that the centre-left leader had failed to condemn the attack itself.
“Why don’t you speak of this? Because otherwise you need to come to terms with the fact that security in our cities is out of control, thanks also to the surreal immigration policies that you have pursued,” Meloni said.
Polls show the Brothers of Italia having a potential lead with voters over the Democratic Party ahead of the parliamentary election, but neither have enough support to govern alone.
Meloni can expect a significant boost from her coalition partners — the League and Silvio Berlusconi’s centre-right Forza Italia party — while Letta is aligned with much smaller parties.