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| CRIME AND XENOPHOBIA 19/02/2009 |
| (2009-02-19) |
| Last updated: 2009-02-20 19:38 EET |
The victim – a 14 year-old. The rapists – two Romanian immigrants, caught with the help of the Romanian police. The scene of crime – a park in Rome. This is the last episode in a series of serious crimes perpetrated by Romanian citizens in Italy. In January, 6 Romanians were also arrested in Rome, after they raped a young woman.
In 2007, Romulus Mailat, a gypsy with Romanian citizenship, became Italy’s public enemy no. 1, as he was charged with having raped and murdered an Italian woman. It was the first scandal, and also the first stigma attached to the Romanian community in Italy. Accompanied by the overblown reactions of the authorities in Rome, such incidents are emotion-loaded, and induce the perception that Romania has turned into the main exporter of crime, fuelling the new wave of anti-Romanian sentiments in the Peninsula.
In Bucharest, foreign minister Cristian Diaconescu has promptly sanctioned the statements of some Italian officials, who are tempted to condemn the Romanian community as a whole. Diaconescu went even further, and said such statements invite xenophobic responses, which is a dangerous thing to do. The head of the Romanian diplomacy reminded officials in Rome that the hundreds of thousands of Romanians who work hard in Italy generate 1% of this country’s GDP, and that blaming all Romanian immigrants for the fault of some of them would be unfair.
He agreed with his Italian counterpart Franco Frattini, who was rather annoyed with Diaconescu’s statements, to have a meeting in Rome on Monday, to analyse the situation of the Romanian community. Two Romanian MEPs sent an open letter to the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and the interior minister Roberto Maroni, protesting against what they regard as a new wave of discriminating accusations made by certain Italian politicians against Romanians.
Unless a diplomatic solution is worked out, things risk running out of control. An east-European migrant camp in Italy was attacked with petrol bombs. Many other xenophobic incidents occurred in and around Rome, targeting particularly stores owned by Romanians or restaurants with Romanian cuisine. The Italian media have adopted a radical tone, and talk about revenge against Romanian criminals, while a far-right organisation demands that Romanians be denied freedom of circulation in Europe, that rapists be severely punished and that all immigrants with criminal records be immediately forced out of Italy.
Amnesty International noticed the danger, and stood up against the anti-Romanian rhetoric and political speeches that encourage verbal and physical abuse against Romanians. Romanian journalists try to counter the allegations in the Italian press, and look for explanations for the new anti-Romanian campaign.
According to the newspaper EVENIMENTUL ZILEI, “anti-Romanian campaign reborn amid economic crisis.” The paper quotes a report by the International Organisation for Migration, which states that one of the effects of the crisis might be a surge in discrimination and xenophobia, with migrants inaccurately perceived as taking away the locals’ jobs.
COTIDIANUL writes that Romanian policemen played a key role in arresting the individuals suspected of having raped the 14-year old in Italy. The paper also argues that dozens of Romanians are victims of Italian xenophobia, and the police never find the perpetrators. Meanwhile, Italian authorities are forced to admit their incapacity to control both the Romanian crime, and the anti-Romanian attacks. GANDUL also writes that, under pressure from both the Italian authorities and extremists, some Romanians may choose to return to their home country.
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