Chronicles of ordinary racism 2011 - Cronache di ordinario razzismo

surrounded him and, unprovoked, began punching him violently, before making their
getaway on a moped, leaving him lying on the ground. Source: La Repubblica
6 July 2011 Caprino Veronese (VR), Veneto
An assault of exceptional ferocity took place during the annual Havana Volley sports
rally, which brings together volleyball fans from around Europe. Only the timely
intervention of the police averted a tragedy. About 20 youths, some of them members of
the ‘Butei della Bassa’ – supporters of the Hellas Verona football team – hurled insults
at, then began beating up, a young black man; they also attacked a friend who came to
his aid and a Red Cross worker. Five people between the ages of 19 and 23 were
arrested and charged with damage to a Red Cross ambulance, bodily harm and for
offences against the Mancini law on racial, ethnic and religious discrimination. Source:
L’Arena
8 July 2011 Bologna (BO), Emilia‐Romagna
In response to the juvenile public prosecutor’s office which had requested that a 12‐
year‐old Roma girl be assigned to the social services for a better life in a community, the
Bologna appeals court headed by Vincenzo De Robertis states ‘thought she does not
attend school, we will not remove her from her family. This is a normal state for
someone of her condition and origin. Due to her nomadic way of life and her culture,
we cannot see how this state of affairs can be detrimental.’ For the court, therefore,
failure to send a Roma child to school, and condemning her to life in poor hygienic
conditions is not sufficiently ‘detrimental’. Source: La Repubblica
10 July 2011 Como (CO), Lombardy
Outside a club on Viale Geno, shortly after midnight, a 22‐year‐old Italian woman
resident in Como begins shouting racist insults for no apparent reason at another
woman, a 30‐year‐old black Italian citizen. The woman decides to call the police who
intervene and take a statement from the offended party. According to the statement,
there was an older couple with the girl who, rather than trying to calm her down,
‘sniggered and encouraged her’. ‘I came out of the club with my mother and a group of
friends after celebrating my birthday,’ the victim says, ‘and suddenly this girl who I
didn’t know came towards me and began insulting me: “sh..ty nigger, get out of my
way because you stink. Get away from me and go back to Africa.’ Source: La Provincia
10 July 2011 Capri (NA), Campania
Mayor Ciro Lembo orders a ‘screening’ of immigrants, after eight burglaries in
apartments and villas on the island [crimes which still have not been solved, Ed.]. ‘This
isn’t racism,’ says Lembo. ‘We simply want to identify those non‐resident foreigners
who arrive on the island every morning from Naples or Castellammare and leave again
each evening. I want to know what they do on our island and how they spend their
days. And so I have ordered our 24 municipal police officers – including four part‐time
officers – to begin checks, in particular on a group of Romanians and Poles. These
burglaries are strange,’ Lembo concludes, ‘ in that they have taken place in out‐lying
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