Tens of thousands join pro-Europe rally in Rome, amid worries over European Union's plan to rearm

ROME (AP) — Tens of thousands of Italians joined a pro-Europe rally in Rome's city center Saturday, waving blue European Union flags in a sign of support and unity as a European push for rearmament divides the country.

The initiative, supported by most of the center-left opposition parties, despite their different positions, was launched by Italian journalist Michele Serra at the end of February, with an editorial in the Italian daily La Repubblica titled: “Let’s say something European.”

“I wanted to organize a large demonstration of citizens supporting Europe, its unity and its freedom, with no party flags, only European flags,” Serra said, launching the slogan: “Here we make Europe, or we die.”

The initiative was born in response to U.S. President Donald Trump ’s destabilizing policies, which created an unprecedented rift between Europe and the U.S., strained over the war in Ukraine and an ongoing tariff battle.

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni has reluctantly backed an EU plan to rearm Europe over concerns that the proposal by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen might weigh on Italy’s giant debt, diverting much-needed funds to weapons spending.

The EU plan aims to generate around 800 billion euros over the next four years, the bulk of which will come from member states increasing their national spending on defense and security.

Internally, Meloni openly criticized the project, rejecting the term “rearm” as misleading and encouraged European partners to focus instead on common defense and security.

Organizers said Saturday that the pro-Europe rally, which filled Rome’s central Piazza del Popolo with at least 30,000 people, reunited Italians on different sides and voting for opposite parties “in the name of democracy.”

“We are here to defend freedom and democracy," said Daniela Condotto, one of the demonstrators. “These are concepts that we got used to over 80 years, but in reality they need to be defended, we cannot take them as a given.”

Right-wing government parties snubbed the demonstration, standing behind Meloni, who has been struggling in her attempt to play a mediating role between Trump and the EU.

“There must be support for Europe, but with concrete reforms, not symbolic events,” said Antonio Tajani, foreign minister and vice premier ahead of Saturday’s rally.

Vice Premier Matteo Salvini, leader of the eurosceptic League's party, was openly critical. “While some people demonstrate with flags, we work to change this Europe, which crushes workers, farmers and entrepreneurs with its absurd rules,” he said.

Associated Press journalist Trisha Thomas contributed to this report.

CORRECTS DATE People gather on the occasion of a Pro-Europe demonstration asking for more cohesion in the EU on the wake of the recent changes of priorities in International politics, in Rome, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (Cecilia Fabiano/LaPresse via AP)

People protest during a pro-Europe rally in Rome’s central Piazza del Popolo, Italy, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (Cecilia Fabiano/LaPresse via AP)

People protest during a pro-Europe rally in Rome’s central Piazza del Popolo, Italy, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (Cecilia Fabiano/LaPresse via AP)

Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni speaks with the media during an EU Summit at the European Council building in Brussels, Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)

FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — A Virginia man who had a relationship with a Brazilian au pair is going to trial Monday in what prosecutors say was an elaborate double-murder scheme to frame another man in the stabbing of his wife.

Brendan Banfield is charged with aggravated murder in the February 2023 killings of Christine Banfield and Joseph Ryan at the Banfields' home in northern Virginia. He has pleaded not guilty in the case.

Banfield and Juliana Peres Magalhães, the family’s au pair, were with the wife and Ryan on the morning the victims were killed in the primary bedroom of the Banfield home, court records say. Authorities have said on that day, Banfield and Magalhães told officials they saw Ryan, a stranger, stabbing the wife after he entered the house. Then they each shot the intruder, Banfield and Magalhães said at the time.

Prosecutors have painted a different picture, arguing that Brendan Banfield and Magalhães lured Ryan to the house and staged it to look like he and the au pair shot a predator in defense. Officials have said Banfield and Magalhães had a romantic affair beginning the year before the killings.

Both the au pair and husband were arrested between 2023 and 2024 and initially handed murder charges in the case. In 2024, Magalhães pleaded guilty to a downgraded manslaughter charge after giving a statement to officials confirming parts of their theory.

In that statement, Magalhães said she and Brendan Banfield created an account in his wife’s name on a social media platform for people interested in sexual fetishes. There, Ryan connected with the account in Christine Banfield’s name, and the users made plans to meet on the morning of Feb. 24, 2023, for a sexual encounter that would involve a knife, authorities said based on the statement from Magalhães.

Prosecutor Eric Clingan said last year that the au pair's statement helped the state solidify its theory ahead of trial.

“With 12 different homicide detectives, there were 24 different theories,” Clingan said. “Now, one theory.”

Not all officials investigating the case have believed Banfield and Magalhães catfished Ryan.

Brendan Miller, a former digital forensic examiner with the Fairfax County Police Department, testified last year that he analyzed dozens of devices and concluded Christine Banfield had connected with Ryan herself through the social networking platform.

An evidence analysis team at the University of Alabama peer-reviewed and affirmed Miller’s digital forensic findings, according to evidence submitted to the court.

Miller was transferred out of the department’s digital forensics unit in late 2024, though a former Fairfax County commander testified the reassignment was not punitive or disciplinary.

John Carroll, Banfield's attorney, argued that Millers' transfer was directly tethered to the case. He also said in court that Fairfax County police reassigned the case’s lead detective after that man had pushed back on the top brass’ catfishing theory.

“It is a theory in search of facts rather than a series of facts supporting a theory,” Carroll said.

Banfield, whose daughter was at the house on the morning of the killings, is also charged with child abuse and felony child cruelty in connection with the case. He will also face those charges during the aggravated murder trial.

FILE - This image provided by the Fairfax County Police Department and taken on Oct. 13, 2023, was submitted as evidence in the murder case against Brendan Banfield shows a framed photo of Banfield and Juliana Peres Magalhães on his bedside table in Herndon, Va. (Fairfax County Police Department via AP, File)