The number of Italians who said
they are afraid of Islam and terrorists jumped this week after
the attacks on a Paris magazine that killed 12 people, according
to two opinion surveys released Friday.
Polling institute Ixé found that as many as 62% of those
people surveyed on Wednesday, the same day as the Paris attack,
said they were afraid that terrorist violence could occur in
Italy.
That survey, conducted for RAI 3 television program Agora,
included 1,000 adults and has a margin of error of plus or minus
3.1%.
It also found that 28% of those people surveyed said they
were not concerned about safety in Italy and 10% said they did
not know.
Meanwhile, marketing pollster SWG said that fear of Islam
rose by nine percentage points in 2014 compared with 2013, with
59% of people surveyed last year saying they agreed with the
statement: "The Islamic religion constitutes a danger for
everyone".
The polling firm said that in 2003, 36% of people surveyed
agreed with the same statement and by 2010, the number rose to
50%.
When asked if Muslims in Italy should have the right to
observe and practice their religion within schools, 36% agreed
in 2014, a drop from 45% in 2013 and considerably lower than 56%
in 2004.
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