A few Italian incidents

THE PONTICELLI POGROMS (May 2008)
"Let them burn or they'll come back"; "Ethnic cleansing is becoming a necessity"
The so-called "Ponticelli pogroms" took place in the Naples district during the time of heightened security that led up to the proclamation of the "Nomads Emergency."

In 2008, the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights issued a report on events in Ponticelli entitled "Incident Report—Violent Attacks Against Roma in the Ponticelli district of Naples, Italy" [“Relazione sugli avvenimenti. Violenti attacchi contro la popolazione Rom nel quartiere di Ponticelli di Napoli, Italia”].

THE TURIN POGROM (December 9, 2011)
The Turin pogrom: A non-Roma boy surprised his 16-year-old sister still half dressed after having had sex with her boyfriend. Out of shame, the girl falsely declared she had been gang-raped by Roma people... The Carabinieri started investigating... The girl's brother also falsely claimed: “I chased them and they ran away”... Turin's leading daily newspaper, la Stampa, reported the incident with the headline, “Boy chases two Roma individuals after they raped his sister”... The brother said “Two Gypsies did it”. The following night, local inhabitants organized a candle-lit march, which degenerated into a fully-fledged attack on a Roma camp on the outskirts of Turin... The settlement, at Cascina Continassa, was raided by people armed with clubs, who chased the Roma dwellers away and set fire to their shanties. Meanwhile, the girl confessed that she had lied to avoid having to admit having had sex with her boyfriend: the gang rape never happened. But it was too late to stop the violent attack—this time a real one—on the Roma people and their camp.


A delegation of the Jewish Community of Turin, with the Chief Rabbi Eliahu Birnbaum, expressing solidarity with Roma families after the burning of Cascina Continassa	© Davide Bozzalla per fmpq.it	© LaStampa.it	© LaStampa.it