Feature: Italians hold rival rallies in Rome

The Italians in Rome went through another tense day as thousands of people took part in two rival rallies across the city Saturday.

Flocking from the north, supporters of Matteo Salvini, the leader of Italy's anti-Europe, anti-immigrant Northern League, gathered in Piazza del Popolo, a vast square in central Rome.

The rally's slogan was "Renzi go home", with Salvini setting himself up as a challenger to Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.

Salvini also labelled Renzi as a "foolish servant of Brussels," and the state as "the first usurer of all" for the taxes it imposed on small entrepreneurs.

Meanwhile, a counter-rally was taking place with left-wing parties, anti-fascist and anti-racist movements gathering in the multicultural Piazza Vittorio against the very presence of the Northern League and its far-right allies.

Some 4,000 police officers were deployed, and tight security measures were put in place to avoid contacts and possible clashes between the two demonstrations, said the interior ministry.

"I protest against Renzi because he was not elected with a popular vote. Plus, his cabinet is carrying on austerity policies that are dictated by the European Union," Northern League's supporter Andrea Tomasella from Gorizia told Xinhua.

Italy should rethink its political "priorities," and merchants, artisans, and farmers should come first, the young protester said.

"I don't think it is decent for our state to pay 400 euros to those entitled to a minimum pension, and 1,200 euros per month on average to support refugees who come from abroad," he said.

"To be here today is important for us, since Salvini is saying what our movement has been saying for a long time," said Fernando Incitti, a delegate of Casa Pound, a neo-Fascist movement.

"We are against immigration, against euro and the government's submission to the European Union's orders, which are just decided by bankers," he added.

The feeling of being neglected, almost discriminated, by government's fiscal and economic policies was palpable among thousands of small entrepreneurs and artisans who were present in the square.

They came mainly from Italy's northern regions to support Salvini and his new declared aim: making the Northern League a nationally-based party capable to antagonize Renzi's center-left government, with what support it could gather from other centre-right and far-right forces.

In May, Italy will witness a new round of regional elections. Illegal migrants, taxes and the burden of a heavy red tape on small entrepreneurs were among the several topics the Northern League's leader stressed in his speech.

The Northern League's rally was indeed an unprecedented event, as the once separatist party, and a staunch opponent of Rome's centralism, managed to bring its anti-immigration and anti-Europe agenda to the heart of the capital.

Yet, its rally and its recent alliance with far-right forces such as the proclaimed neo-fascist Casa Pound stirred a strong reaction.

At the other side of the city, some 30,000 people took part in the counter-rally. Several leftist intellectuals and artists spoke out against the Northern League and joined the initiative.

The counter-rally gathered a variety of people. The strongest message they voiced was that Rome has "no place for racists nor fascists." Endi