Fascist beach club full of pro-Mussolini paraphernalia raided by Italian police

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A Italian beach club venerating former fascist dictator Benito Mussolini has been raided by police.

The Punta Canna club in Chioggia, near Venice in northern Italy, is decorated with pictures of Il Duce and signs proclaiming the sight an “anti-democracy, regime run zone” and “don’t break our falls”.

Other signs said: "in a country devastated by institutional and rude thieves here are the rules that are missing: order, cleanliness, discipline, severity" and “the law of justice comes from the barrel of a gun”.

A sign on one white cabin door was decorated with the words “Gas chamber, entry forbidden”.

Officers from Italy’s Digos anti-terrorism unit raided the beach club on Sunday following a report by Italian newspaper La Repubblica.

Local police told the newspaper that they are preparing a criminal case against the club’s owner, Gianni Scarpa for “apologia of fascism".

But the 64-year-old appeared unrepentant, with one sign saying “My place, my rules”.

Mussolini ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943 when he was deposed in a coup as the country switched sides during the Second World War and backed the Allies instead of Adolf Hitler.

He was later executed by firing squad along with his lover, Claretta Petacci, by Italian partisans in the remote village of Giulino di Mezzegra in April 1945.

Italy has tried to distance itself from its fascist past since the war but it has lingered on in the country’s far-right politics.

In January 2013, former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi praised Mussolini who he said, apart from his persecution of Jewish people and other minorities, was “a leader who in so many other ways did well".

Although most people denounce the period under his rule, some Italians – particularly the older generation – are nostalgic for a time when Italy had a greater sense of order, organised crime and corruption was less rampant and public services functioned better.

Meanwhile the dictator is still used as a rallying point for far-right sympathisers – including several political parties – Italian “ultra” football hooligans and racist groups.