Italy: Struggle for residence permits

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Statewatch bulletin, June-August 2000, vol 10 no 3/4

Undocumented migrants have begun a campaign to get residence permits as part of the regularisation process which started in 1998. The last date to register for the process was 15 December 1998, but over 50,000 applications have still to be resolved. The claims are processed in police headquarters throughout Italy, where a massive backlog has built up - most of these applications were thought to be destined for rejection. Within two months the movement, which started on 20 May in Brescia (Lombardy), spread to several other cities including Rome, Florence, Naples, Milan, Palermo, Lucca, Bologna, Treviso. After a demonstration on 18 June marched to the Interior Ministry in Rome, Massimo Brutti, Under-Secretary at the Interior Ministry, said that in many cases the rejected applications could be granted, acknowledging that special circumstances sometimes apply. "Many applicants have had difficulty presenting proper evidence for reasons which they cannot be blamed for - for example those who had an employment, but on the black [market] - and this must be considered."

11 Manifesto 9 & 17.6.00, 2 & 16. 7.00, 5 & 6.8.00; Social centres website www.ecn.org; Radio Onda d'Urto communiques

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