Italian fascists have held a funeral procession to protest a gay couple entering a civil partnership.

On Sunday (5 February), 15 members of the right-wing, neo-fascist Forza Nuova marched in Cesena, a small town near Rimini in north Italy.

They carried a coffin, draped in the Italian flag and some of the marchers had dressed as priests, while others wore mourning clothes.

Marchers also carried posters acusing the couple, Matteo and Marco, of wanting ‘the end of Italian civilization’.

The demo arrived outside the City Hall just as the grooms and their families arrived.

The demonstration was ended by police, according to Italian media; on their Facebook page, Forza Nova dispute this.

Mirco Ottaviani, coordinator of Forza Nuova’s regional group, in a press release said marriage equality was part of an international drive to make straight marriage the number one enemy.

‘There is no question that, in the last fourty years, an international movement whose purpose it is to eliminate the wedding, the basis of the family, has grown tremendously,’ he said.

‘It’s an alliance that brought together the supporters of the sexual revolution, easy birth control, and divorce.’

He also claims the ‘family crisis’ had a negative effect on every member of society and would leave people vulnerable and alone.

Forza Nova reportedly announced the demonstration days in advance, with posters doubling as funeral invites plastered over the city.

‘Mattheo and Marco, together with their parents and other relatives, announce the end of civilization, of our tradition of the natural family,’ they read.

‘One cornerstone of our society and God is that children grow up with a mother and a father.’

The posters also mentioned time and date of the couple’s wedding.

Matteo and Marco were only the second couple in Cesena to enter a civil partnership.