Saturday,
November 03,
Italian Naval Officers Wife Beat to Death;
Romanian Youth Held, Vendettas and Backlash Feared
The
ANNOTICO Report
Giovanna
Reggiani, a 47-year-old naval officer's wife was
attacked, beaten, and found comatose in a ditch outside
A 24-year-old
Romanian youth was arrested Tuesday and stands accused of being Reggiani's assailant, which he denies.
The
Romanian Community,
Italian reaction was swift. Reggiani's assault
prompted an emergency decree to facilitate expulsions of EU citizens considered
a security threat. The decree has been applied almost immediately, with
authorities in northern
ROME (AFP) November
3, 2007 Italian officials raised fears of an
anti-Romanian "vendetta" Saturday, following apparent reprisal
attacks the day before over the death of a woman allegedly killed by a
Romanian.
"Unfortunately,
it's what we fear," Interior Minister Giuliano
Amato told La Repubblica daily of Friday's attacks
against three Romanians by masked men armed with sticks.
"We must
prevent this terrible tiger that is xenophobic hatred, the racist beast, from
leaving its cage," Amato said.
Meanwhile,
Several hundred
people attended her funeral Saturday, including Amato and
A 24-year-old Romanian
youth was arrested Tuesday and stands accused of being Reggiani's
assailant, which he denies. Her assault prompted an emergency decree Wednesday
to facilitate expulsions of EU citizens considered a
security threat.
The decree has
been applied almost immediately, with authorities in northern
Authorities in
northern
All the decrees
must be approved by judges to take effect and they
only last three years. Those expelled have a month to leave the country.
Last year 15.4
percent of foreigners accused of murder, sexual violence and theft in
But Friday's
attack against the three Romanians at a supermarket parking lot by 10 masked
men armed with sticks, knives and iron bars has raised concern of reprisals
against ordinary members of the Romanian community,
Initial reports
said four were targeted in the attack in a southern Roman suburb, near
shantytowns where foreigners live in squalor.
The most
seriously injured, Emil Marcu, 47, was in a stable
condition following an overnight operation, according to hospital sources
quoted by ANSA. Witnesses told police the assailants, who fled the scene, were
Italian.
Reaction to the
assaults was swift, with Italian media linking the incident to Reggiani's death -- although the two events occurred some
20 kilometres (12 miles) apart -- and politicians of
all stripes warning against reprisals against Romanians.
"We must
avoid at all cost a spiral of vendettas to be established," said Fabrizio Cicchitto of the
conservative Forza Italia party of former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi.
Rome Mayor Veltroni,
recently crowned the new leader of
Similar criticism
was aired by Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alemo,
followed Saturday by his ministry which said that "Romanian public opinion
as a whole expects Italian state institutions to take measures so that such
xenophobic acts are not repeated," it said.
Still, the
attacks have sparked partisan sparring, with the left accusing the right of
using the tragedy for their political ends and Berlusconi charging the leftist
government of being lax on security.
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jPQuZU7LDt19OnIf8q0ttABHKd0A
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