Roma gypsies rounded up and expelled from Italy

ROMA gypsies are being rounded up and expelled from Italy on foot of a decree rushed into law last week allowing the country to take such action against anybody who threatened security.

The Romanian government has protested against the action. The European Commission said Europe’s free movement rules do not allow national authorities to target particular groups of EU citizens for expulsion.

The crackdown follows the robbery and murder of the 47-year-old wife of an Italian naval officer in Rome last month and the arrest of a 25-year-old Roma man for the crime.

Last week, the Italian Cabinet gave authorities the power to expel EU citizens with criminal records, or those deemed dangerous to public safety.

Italy’s right wing politicians, including former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi and his former deputy and National Alliance fascist party colleague, Gianfranco Fini, have led calls for mass expulsions. Their words have led to a rash of attacks on Romanians and Roma gypsies in particular, including the knifing and seriously wounding of three Romanians in a car park in Rome on Friday.

The Pope, Benedict XVI, has also intervened with a statement saying that immigrants have rights and obligations.

The Romanian prime minister, Calin Popescu Tariceanu, spoke to his Italian counterpart, Romano Prodi, by telephone on Sunday night. He asked him to stop xenophobic attacks on Romanians.

So far the authorities in Milan — Mr Berlusconi’s home town — have deported four Romanians and authorised another 12 deportations. Roma camps on the outskirts of Rome are being bulldozed. The authorities say foreigners are convicted for a disproportionate number of crimes.

Commission spokesperson Friso Roscam Abbing said that member states could eject citizens of other EU member states if they proved they were a threat to security, public order or health. However, he said, they could not take such action against a group of people, but must prove the case against each individual and give them time to defend themselves and a month to leave.

Italy is one of the few EU countries that opened its doors to Romanian and Bulgarian workers when the two countries became members in January. There are an estimated 500,000 Romanians living in the country, and since January there are reports that 10,000 a month, many of them Roma, have been crossing into Italy.