Rome authorities transferred
refugees living at a reception centre in a low-income suburb
Wednesday following a fresh episode of seemingly anti-immigrant
unrest in the area.
Roughly 40 refugees were moved away from the centre in Tor
Sapienza, a working class neighbourhood in eastern Rome that was
the scene of clashes between immigrants and residents last
November, after three rubbish bins were set alight and tyres
burned.
They were the only remaining residents at the centre in Via
Morandi after city authorities were forced to relocate 36
underage refugees for safety reasons in response to the November
violence.
"This is a defeat for the entire city," said social
policies councillor Francesca Danese on Wednesday evening.
"Now these people are forced to pack their bags again,
victims of the umpteenth provocation, of manipulations which I
believe come from the (political) right. They don't deserve it
and the neighbourhood doesn't deserve it," she continued.
Residents, however, expressed their "exasperation over
conditions in the neighbourhood, where they have long complained
of poor services, ill-lit streets, and a rising crime rate,
including several attacks on women.
"Here the anger has never subsided, the calm is only
apparent and the tension can be cut with a knife," local
spokesperson Sandra Zammataro said.
"In spite of promises the city council has still not found
important solutions to important problems, we are talking about
illegal occupations, the refugee centre and the Roma camp," she
continued.
In November Senate Speaker Pietro Grasso warned against
dismissing the anti-immigrant violence "merely as racism".
"This would be a major error of evaluation: I believe those
protests are a request for help and for attention," he said.
"The unrest in Tor Sapienza has forced us to ask questions
that remain unanswered," Grasso continued.
"The problems facing these neighbourhoods are the same as
those facing the country: unemployment, insecurity, school
abandonment, absence of services," he added.
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