Italy: Anti- and pro-migration rallies sweep Rome

In Italy, thousands of people marched through the streets of Rome in rival anti- and pro-migration demonstrations on Saturday, after an initiative seeking sweeping measures against migrants garnered enough support to be brought to Parliament. A petition by the initiative, named “Remigration and Reconquest,” gathered the 50,000 signatures needed to trigger parliamentary discussion. No date has been scheduled yet for a vote. The proposal calls for sweeping measures targeting foreigners, including coercive returns and incentives to leave Italy. Several thousand demonstrators from around Italy gathered for the anti-migration march, singing the national anthem. A rival, pro-migration demonstration saw tens of thousands of people take to the streets in another part of Rome Saturday evening. Thousands of police were deployed to ensure the two rival groups would remain apart. No violence was reported.

Meanwhile today in Rome, Italy

Italian Patriots protest the streets against mass unchecked migration which is causing the same issues all across Europe and that nobody voted for.

It’s all been done by design & Europe I awake now. pic.twitter.com/bD1iOoIf9T

— Concerned Citizen (@BGatesIsaPyscho) June 13, 2026

The debate on migration has become a political balancing act for Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's right-wing coalition. Although the right-wing populist and anti-migration Lega ("League") party has welcomed the debate raised by the "remigration" bill, Meloni's Brothers of Italy and its centrist coalition partners are more cautious. Meloni's government has actually sought to expand legal migration since coming to power, in a bid to tackle labor shortages in a range of crucial sectors. From 2023 to 2025, Italy allowed 452,000 non-EU workers to enter the country. The rival marches in Rome came a day after the European Union introduced new rules on how its member states deal with irregular migration and asylum seekers.