In Italy's capital Rome, the lights of the ancient Colosseum will be dimmed next Sunday to protest against anti-Semitic and racist acts and statements made by the leaders of Hungary’s far-right Jobbik Party. The initiative by Rome’s city government and the local Jewish community, will take place on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which commemorates the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp by Soviet troops on 27 January 1945.
In a statement announcing the initiative, Rome's Mayor Gianni Alemanno said "acts of anti-Semitism are spreading in a disturbing manner in Hungary, prompted by the extreme right-wing Jobbik Party. By turning off the lights of the Coliseum, the municipal government and the Jewish community of Rome want to condemn in a symbolic way xenophobic actions and ideologies, not only by the Hungarian extreme right but in all of Europe. It is our duty to protest against any form of incitement to hatred,” he said.
Rome Jewish Community President Riccardo Pacifici said that in Hungary, “the nightmare of anti-Semitism lives, with a leap backward into the past that recalls the 1930s. We, Italian and European citizens, cannot tolerate this.”
Holocaust Remembrance Day is marked throughout Italy with a week of events including educational programs, conferences, exhibitions, lectures, concerts, performances, school events, publications, broadcasts and other activities.
