DHAKA: Thousands of supporters of Italy’s Northern League have poured into one of Rome’s biggest squares for a rally against immigration, the EU and Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s government.

League leader Matteo Salvini accused Renzi of substituting the country’s interests to those of the EU.

He also criticised the government's record in dealing with Romanian truck drivers, tax, banks and big business.

A large counter-demonstration against Salvini was also held in Rome.

Opinion polls suggest that Salvini is rapidly gaining in popularity.

They show him as being second only to Renzi, prompting some to dub him as ‘the other Matteo’, reports the BBC.

The Northern League was once a strong ally of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, but it has sought to find new allies as he struggles to shake off a tax fraud conviction that forced him out of parliament.

BDST: 1158 HRS, MAR 01, 2015