STA, 17 January 2019 - Members of the Slovenian community in Italy will be protesting against a neo-fascist rally planned in the border town of Gorizia on Saturday. The Slovene Union Party (SSk) has called on its members and like-minded people to take part in an antifascist rally planned for the same day.
The antifascists say it is inappropriate for the Gorizia city authorities to receive the fascist rally participants, X Mas and Casa Pound, which is what happened at a similar rally last year.
Related: President Pahor and Speaker Židan express concern after neo-fascist rally in Trieste (video)
"Gorizia must not accept such a decision and such behaviour because the fascist regime and terror between the two wars and during World War II caused great hardship," the SSk said in a press release on Thursday.
This year, Gorizia Mayor Rodolfo Ziberna decided against receiving the fascist rally participants after this move caused an outcry in 2018.
Klemen Milavčič, the new mayor of the nearby Nova Gorica, underlined in a press release today that "such provocations are dangerous and must not be underestimated".
He called on the neighbours of his town to act prudently, to the benefit of the whole area and with modern European values in mind.
Vice-president of the coalition Social Democrats (SD) Matjaž Nemec responded in a video on Twitter, saying that "it is our task to preserve European values: mutual respect, cooperation and building a new and modern European future".
The people of Gorizia and Nova Gorica have always fought for and built a future together, a future based on shared European values and are an inspiration for the entire Europe and the EU, said Nemec.
