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Two Italian politians 'made fascist salutes' during tribute to Jews

The allegation came as graffiti questioning the veracity of the attempted extermination of Europe's Jews was daubed on a bridge on the outskirts of the capital.

"The Holocaust is the biggest lie in history," one slogan read, signed by a neo-Nazi group calling itself 'Militia'.

Last month the same group defaced the walls of a historic cemetery, calling the speaker of Italy's Senate, Renato Schifani, a "Jew" for having paid a visit to Auschwitz.

The two politicians, city councillors from the People of Freedom Party of prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, allegedly raised their arms in a Mussolini-style salute as colleagues passed a motion of solidarity with Rome's surviving Jews.

Their actions caused uproar in the council chamber, with colleagues yelling "Shame on you".

The controversy took place in the oddly named suburb of EUR (Esposizione universale romana), a monument to fascist architecture conceived under Mussolini's rule in the 1930s.

Read entire article at Daily Telegraph (UK)