text: Italian President urges separatists to turn back. MANTUA, Italy 1996-12-06 
   Italian President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro visited the symbolic heartland of the separatist Northern League on Friday and appealed to its supporters to drop their campaign for a breakaway state. Addressing a convention on Italian unity in Mantua, where the party has set up its own " parliament of the north ", Scalfaro made a direct appeal to what he called " my friends from the League " to work instead for federal reform. " It is an invitation, a commitment, a promise. Let's march together, " Scalfaro, a northerner himself, said. " Help Italy to teach, to propose a capacity for strong local autonomy, for the federalism which can give new vigour to our blood. But turn back from the line you are taking now, " he said. Scalfaro was in Mantua to attend a ceremony commemorating the executions there by Austrian rulers in 1852 and 1853 of a group of Italians who had campaigned for national unity. He was jeered and whistled at by a small group of League supporters when he arrived for a visit marked by heavy security. Witnesses said the protesters were outnumbered by other Italians who waved tricolour flags in the national red, white and green or shouted " Viva Italia ". The League won more than eight percent of votes at the last general election in April on a federalist platform but its leader Umberto Bossi later switched to a separatist agenda. A three-day " independence " march along the Po River in September, culminating in a declaration in Venice of a self-styled " Republic of Padania ", flopped badly.
competitors: Italian MANTUA Italy Italian Oscar Luigi Scalfaro Northern League Italian Mantua Scalfaro League Scalfaro Italy Scalfaro Mantua Austrian Italians League Italians Viva Italia League Umberto Bossi Po River Venice Republic of Padania