A Nazi slogan and swastika graffiti found on a bathroom door in the Italian houses of parliament has sparked outrage among politicians and on social media.

The discovery of a verse from one of the Wehrmacht’s hymns ‘Es braust unser panzer,’ translated as ‘Our tank roars,’ triggered dismay among the deputies of the lower house of the Italian parliament at the Palazzo Montecitorio in Rome.

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The verse was followed by a second engraving, possibly added as a response, which translates from Italian as ‘go to hell...’.

The Nazi-linked etchings were reported to the newly-elected President of the Lower House of Parliament Roberto Fico. However, parliamentary dismay was nothing compared to the public outrage that followed as news of the Nazi graffiti went viral.

Twitter commentators were outraged, slamming the fascist engraving and calling for the culprit to be traced. “Swastika engraved in the Montecitorio bathrooms. It’s a known fact that, just like cavemen, fascists communicate with graffiti,” one Italian tweeted.

Disegnata una svastica nei bagni di Montecitorio. Si sa, i fascisti, come i cavernicoli, comunicano coi graffiti. — Francesco Giamblanco (@cicciogia) 16 апреля 2018 г.

“Swastika in the bathrooms of our Parliament. Please have everyone who had access to that bathroom participate in a calligraphic expertise [handwriting analysis]. Everyone. And if there were external visitors, then they should take part in it as well. It should not end up like this. [We need] the name and the last name of who did this,” said another.

#Montecitorio Svastica nei bagni del nostro parlamento. No adesso fate la perizia calligrafica a tutti quelli che hanno accesso. Tutti. E se ci sono state visite da fuori che vengano rintracciati i partecipanti.Questa cosa non DEVE passare così.Nome e cognome di chi è stato — Andrea Cerri (@andr900) 16 апреля 2018 г.

Others on social media said the graffiti was unfit for somewhere like Palazzo Montecitorio, which should be “a sacred place for democracy and freedom and instead it is disgraced with such filth.”

Incisione nazista a Montecitorio: sulla porta di un bagno svastica e verso del Panzerlied https://t.co/I8LixdUbUN via @repubblica — Ezio Mauro (@eziomauro) 16 апреля 2018 г.

However, given the sheer number of visitors to the site – from parliamentary staff to journalists, and even students on guided tours – it would likely be impossible to trace who might be responsible for the engravings.

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