Italian deputy prime minister and minister of the interior Matteo Salvini has blamed left-wing extremists after being sent an envelope containing a bullet in the latest death threat against the League leader.
The envelope, which contained a .22 calibre bullet, was discovered at the centre of the Italian Post Office in Sesto Fiorentino earlier this week and was addressed to “Minister Duce Matteo Salvini” — a reference to the title used by the late fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, Il Giornale reports.
After the discovery of the envelope, the Carabinieri were called to the post office centre where a bomb squad conducted an investigation, and the state police say they have also begun an investigation to trace the identity of the person who sent the envelope.
“There have been over 100 threats of violence and death against me since I became a minister,” Salvini said in reaction to the incident.
“Evidently the words of hatred of certain leftists convince certain sick minds, but they do not frighten me,” Salvini added.
“Indeed, they give me even more strength and desire to fight criminals of all kinds.”
League (Lega) senator Roberto Calderoli said the death threats against Salvini were not stunts but were serious and compared them to death threats received by former Italian prime minister Aldo Moro, who was assassinated by the far-left Red Brigades in 1978 after being kidnapped.
Calderoli added that those on the left must condemn the incident and that death threats must be stopped before they turn into political murders.
The threat is just the latest against Salvini from the left. Last year, a group of far-left extremist students in Bologna put up posters of Salvini’s face with a target over it advocating for the assassination of the interior minister with the caption: “Assassin. Take aim at this.”
More mainstream leftist groups, like the L’Associazione Nazionale Partigiani d’Italia (ANPI/National Association of the Italian Partisans), have also called for “civil disobedience”against Salvini over his security and migration policies.