A far-right Italian politician whose t-shirt satirizing the Prophet Mohammed led to a deadly riot in Libya had his 8-person security detail of his villa removed to save money.
Roberto Calderoli of the xenophobic Northern League party was a minister in Silvio Berlusconi’s coalition government in 2006 when he appeared on national television and showed his t-shirt lampooning the Prophet Mohammed. Ten people later died during a violent protest in front of the Italian consulate in the the port city of Benghazi.
The security detail of his home near Bergamo in the Lombardy region of northern Italy cost the government 900 thousand euros a year, according to the La Repubblica newspaper.
Italians have vociferously spoken out against the country’s politicians who are paid the most in Europe and have enviable perks, while taxpayers have been forced to make sacrifices like paying more taxes and work longer before retirement in an effort to cut debt and balance the budget.