Rome (AFP) - Hundreds of
thousands of Italians gathered in Rome Saturday to demonstrate against
gay unions and the teaching of gender theories in schools, as Prime
Minister Matteo Renzi tries to push a civil union bill through
parliament.
Holding aloft
banners reading "The family will save the world" and "Let's defend our
children", a sea of people crammed into the San Giovanni square near the
Italian capital's historic centre to support family values.
The
square, which can hold an estimated 300,000 people, was overflowing
with the young, elderly and parents with toddlers, an AFP photographer
said, with many more demonstrators spilling into nearby streets.
Organisers for their part said one million people were taking part.
Italian police never provide figures for demos.
"In
my children's schools they are talking about families made up of two
fathers or two mothers, without asking parents' permission," said
41-year old doctor Giuseppe Ripa, adding: "It's dangerous and wrong."
Fellow
protester Piero Uroda, a 78-year-old pharmacist, said it was "not
honest to say these things to the very young, it's not like they are
students who can debate these ideas."
"I
don't want gay marriage or gay adoption, the natural family is like
ours," he said, pointing to his relatives gathered around.
The protest comes as the Italian senate examines a civil union bill, which Renzi wants to see go to a vote in the coming weeks, with the aim of legislation being enacted before the end of July.
The call for Italy to keep pace with its western European neighbours on the issue has grown stronger since Ireland voted overwhelmingly in favour of gay marriage last month.
But rights activists warn it will be no mean feat for the leader of the centre-left Democratic Party to find allies across the political spectrum, blaming an excessive influence of the Catholic clergy on the political class.
While a survey published by Italian daily La Stampa at the end of May found that 51 percent of voters would support gay marriage, protesters in Rome said the state should stop trying to interfere in sexual or gender education.
"We are asking for families based on marriage be respected, and stressing the central role parents play. We forcefully reject the attempt to sneak into the curriculum projects which aim to destroy children's sexual identities," said Massimo Gandolfini, spokesman for the "Defend our children!" committee.
There were both cries of support and derision from the political sphere.
Matteo
Salvini, rising star on the far right and head of the Northern League
party, sent a Facebook "hug for all the mummies and daddies protesting
peacefully in Rome to defend their children's future."
Vincenzo
Brana, head of the long-standing Arcigay gay rights association in
Bologna, was quick to point out that "today is World Refugee Day", with
hundreds of thousands of migrants in Italy facing an uncertain future.
Their
problems "are an urgent issue which concerns us all. Those who take to
the streets to talk of other things show they are living on another
planet, and I would recommend leaving them on that planet alone."
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