The Chinese embassy in Rome on Friday voiced Beijing's "strong displeasure" at the rightwing opposition League's demonstration against Hong Kong's new national security law outside the embassy on Thursday.
League leader Matteo Salvini and others unfurled a banner outside the embassy calling for "Freedom for Hong Kong".
An embassy spokesman said Friday China rejected the League's "gratuitous" charges against the People's Republic for its Hong Kong policy.
The League replied Friday that "the Chinese embassy must not try to compare China to Italy" and stigmatised an alleged lack of response from the Italian government to the alleged crackdown in the former British colony.
Honk Kong police on Friday charged the first suspect under the tighter new law, a 23-year-old man arrested in July 1 protests.
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