FILE PHOTO: Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni attends political festival Atreju organised by Brothers of Italy (Fratelli d'Italia) right-wing party, in Rome, Italy, December 16, 2023. REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane/File Photo
ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni faced calls on Tuesday to punish a lawmaker from her party after a bystander was injured by a shot fired from his gun at a New Year's celebration.
Emanuele Pozzolo, who is a member of Meloni's Brothers of Italy party, said the small revolver from which the bullet came belonged to him but has denied discharging the weapon himself.
The shot slightly injured the son-in-law of a member of the security team who were with a junior justice minister attending the same event to bring in the new year in the northern Italian village of Rosazza.
Local police are investigating the incident. Pozzolo had a licence for the gun but opposition politicians are asking why he decided to take it to a New Year's party.
"These incompetents are a danger to the safety of those who meet them, let alone the interests of the country," said Elly Schlein, leader of the opposition centre-left Democratic Party.
The right-wing Brothers of Italy said in a statement that unspecified action would be taken against Pozzolo if he was found to have done wrong but condemned efforts to use the incident to attack the party politically.
(Writing by Keith Weir, editing by Ed Osmond)
