Italian police, responding to a request from German authorities, questioned Italian MEP Ilaria Salis in her Rome hotel room as she travelled to a “No Kings” demonstration.
Two officers from Rome’s Viminale commissariat visited Salis at the Hotel Varese near Termini station.
The police asked to see Salis’s identity documents, and questioned her about her travel to Rome and plans for the demonstration that afternoon.
They also asked about her companions, including parliamentary assistant Ivan Bonnin, and whether she possessed any potentially dangerous objects.
The interaction lasted around one hour. No room search was conducted, no formal report was filed at the time, and no arrest or charges resulted from the check.
German magistrates created an international alert in early March, as part of an investigation into alleged close ties between Italian political circles and German antifa groups, some of which are accused of involvement in violent attacks.
On social media, Salis accused the Italian government of being after her.
“This morning, the Police showed up at dawn at my hotel room in Rome for a PREVENTIVE CHECK that lasted over an hour in view of today’s demonstration… With the Meloni Government in power we already live in a police state”, she wrote that day.
Police described the action as an “act due” in response to a foreign alert coming from Germany. An internal communications issue in the Questura meant the officers initially did not immediately register her status as an MEP.
The German inquiry centres on the network known as Antifa Ost or Hammerbande (Hammer Gang/Banda del martello), which is based in Leipzig.
German authorities, including the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), classify that network as a violent left-wing extremist group involved in targeted aggressions against individuals and environments perceived as neo-Nazi or far-right.
The same network is referenced in Hungarian investigations into events in Budapest in February 2023 during the “Day of Honour” commemoration.
Ilaria Salis was suspected of being involved in the notorious German “Hammer Gang” that was accused of attacking politicians in Hungary with hammers last year.
She was facing a potential 20-year custodial sentence in Hungary.
Click the link to watch the video. 👇 https://t.co/kIegQxK5rW
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) June 13, 2024
In those Budapest incidents, Hungarian prosecutors accused Ilaria Salis of participating in coordinated assaults on several people accused of being associated with the hard-right gathering.
The attacks allegedly involved weapons, including a hammer, and caused injuries.
Hungarian authorities described them as part of actions linked to militants from Italy and Germany, with investigative lines converging on Antifa Ost as the most radical component.
Salis faced charges including attempted assault and membership of an extreme left-wing criminal organisation.
She spent over 15 months in pre-trial detention in Hungary before her election to the European Parliament in June 2024 granted her immunity and led to her release. She has denied the accusations.
The European Parliament has repeatedly voted to permit Salis to retain her immunity, shielding her from prosecution in Hungary.
Salis is cited in the report of the German investigation into the Hammerbande group. The broader German probe examines presumed relations between Italian politicians or activist environments, and German antifa and pacifist circles implicated in such attacks.
In November 2025, the US Department of State went further in designating Antifa Ost, along with other far-left networks including the Federazione Anarchica Informale/Fronte Rivoluzionario Internazionale (FAI/FRI), as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGT).
This measure includes asset freezes and prohibitions on transactions with US persons.
#Roma #NoKings, piazza immensa contro il Governo Meloni! pic.twitter.com/kXfYbEVpr8
— Ilaria Salis (@SalisIlaria) March 28, 2026
