ROME, May 13. /TASS/. A group of Italian activists gathered near the Colosseum in Rome on Saturday to protest the visit of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky to Italy, the Il Giorno daily reported.

According to the report, a group of young activists from the country’s Communist organization unfurled a large banner saying "Zelensky [is] not welcome [here]." The banner also contained slogans against arms deliveries to Ukraine in smaller letters.

The banner described Zelensky as "a president, who lent his country for imperialistic plans of NATO, US and EU."

"Zelensky is being portrayed as a defender of freedom, while he is in fact a head of an ultra-nationalist government that banned 14 political parties and turned neo-Nazi paramilitary groups into regular forces," the newspaper quoted organizers as saying. "We believe that the Italian government’s policy of sending weapons to Ukraine is a shame."

During a meeting with Zelensky on Saturday, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni reaffirmed her government’s commitment to providing Kiev with various aid, including military.

A campaign to gather signatures for holding a referendum on stopping arms supplies to the Kiev government is currently under way in Italy. Organizers need to gather 500,000 signatures.