Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets of the Italian capital for rival demonstrations over migration policy, as a far-right proposal seeking hardline migration measures is set to advance to discussion in parliament.

An anti-migration march in Rom’s Prati neighbourhood on Saturday drew several thousand participants, while a competing pro-migration event in a separate part of the city attracted tens of thousands.

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Thousands of police were also deployed to ensure the two rival groups would remain apart.

The demonstrations come after a petition advocating for sweeping measures targeting foreigners – including coercive returns to their countries of origin – gathered the 50,000 signatures needed to trigger parliamentary discussion.

Named “Remigration and Reconquest,” the petition has pushed the once-fringe concept of “remigration” – which in far-right contexts can mean the mass deportation of ethnic minorities – into the political mainstream.

“We want to kick the illegal immigrants out – force them out, because they shouldn’t be here,” Luca Marsella, spokesman for the neofascist group Casapound, said at the anti-migrant rally Saturday.

“And since we’re not politically correct, we’ll say we want to send the legal immigrants home, too – the ones who clearly haven’t assimilated or integrated.”

On several occasions during the anti-migrant march, many participants raised their arms in a fascist salute, shouting “Duce! Duce!,” in reference to Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, reported The Associated Press.

‘Incompatible with Italian constitution’

The debate on migration represents a delicate balancing act for Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing coalition.

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While the anti-migration League party that is in her coalition backs opening discussion on the petition, Meloni’s Brothers of Italy and centrist allies have been more cautious about endorsing a proposal linked to extremist circles.

Critics, including opposition parties and legal experts, argue the proposal would violate constitutional and international anti-discrimination principles by targeting people based on ethnic background, including naturalised citizens and their descendants.

“The so-called remigration bill invokes a logic of exclusion based on ethnic and cultural background that is incompatible with the Italian constitution and the fundamental principles of the rule of law,” said left-wing politician Angelo Bonelli, according to Italy’s la Repubblica newspaper.

The controversy comes even as Meloni’s government pursues a parallel policy of expanding legal migration, having approved a multiyear plan to admit hundreds of thousands of non-EU workers to address labour shortages in key economic sectors.