Italian police carried out searches across the country on Friday targeting 17 people, including 14 minors, suspected of glorifying white supremacist attackers, spreading Nazi propaganda, and proposing methods for carrying out racially motivated attacks online.
Italian police searched the homes of 17 people, including 14 minors, on Friday, in a nationwide operation targeting suspected online propaganda glorifying white supremacism and inciting racially and religiously motivated violence.
The suspects are accused of publishing material glorifying perpetrators of white supremacist massacres, including Adolf Hitler and Brenton Tarrant, the Australian gunman behind the 2019 Christchurch mosque attacks that killed dozens. They are also alleged to have proposed methods for carrying out attacks and instructions for constructing explosive devices.
Two online groups at the centre of the investigation
Carabinieri from the ROS (Special Operations Group) and DIGOS officers carried out the searches across multiple cities. Those targeted are accused of propaganda and incitement to commit crimes on the grounds of racial and religious discrimination, with terrorism-related aggravating circumstances applied.
Investigators say some of the suspects were active in a group calling itself the “New European Order Chat”, while others belonged to the “Italian Fascist Front”, sharing posts targeting Jewish people, homosexuals and people of colour.
The group is also alleged to have promoted the international white supremacist network “The Base” and to have circulated self-training manuals and instructions for direct action. Investigators say members additionally took part in online gaming activity that simulated the killing of people from ethnic minorities.
During the searches, authorities seized edged weapons, including knives, along with banners and items bearing Nazi symbolism.
