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| ROME AND THE ROMA 04/06/2008 |
| (2008-06-05) |
| Last updated: 2008-06-05 16:41 EET |
In response to the incidents reported in recent weeks near the Italian city of Naples, where camps of Romanian Gypsies were burned down, several Roma organisations staged protests in front of the Italian embassies in Bucharest and Madrid on Tuesday. In the Romanian capital, too, Roma organisations representatives marched wearing black ribbons with the letter “Z,” the marker for Gypsies in Nazi camps.
Protesters demanded that Silvio Berlusconi’s government end racist actions against the Roma. Executive director of “Romani Criss” organisation, Margareta Matache, believes that the Italian government's integration strategies have not been fully implemented, and the Italian authorities lack policies to prevent, expose and control attacks against the Roma.
“Basically, what we try to do is tell Italy, once again, that the Roma issue can't be solved through extremist attacks or extermination. I believe we, the Roma, as well as the ethnic majority are under an obligation to warn against this, and to ensure that authorities respond to extremist attacks with penalties and to social issues with social policies.”
In Madrid, Gypsies from several Spanish regions expressed solidarity with the ones in Italy, urging European institutions to denounce the racist policies of the Berlusconi Cabinet and to take steps to prevent xenophobic attitudes against the Roma. After the incidents involving Gypsies in the Peninsula, the President of Italy, Giorgio Napolitano, warned against the “risk of a decline” in values in Italy, and called for an end to violence against foreigners. Rome's plans to introduce controversial legislation that would make illegal immigration in Italy an offence punishable by imprisonment, was criticised by the UN and the Vatican.
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi took a step back as regards the bill, which stipulates harsh penalties against crime and illegal immigration, and which is criticised as a possible incentive for xenophobia and racism. Berlusconi said illegal immigrants should only be prosecuted if they committed offences, in which case being an illegal immigrant would be an aggravating circumstance. The number of foreigners in Italy rose in 2007 to 3.5 million. A significant number of crimes in Italy are perpetrated by Romanian immigrants, particularly Romanian citizens of Roma ethnicity.
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2025-04-03
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