Italy: Roma camps attacked in Naples
01 May 1999
Roma camps in Scampia, a poor Neapolitan suburb, were subjected to arson attacks on 19 June. Reports in the media said the Camorra (Neapolitan mafia) had burned the caravans, after two girls were run over by a Serbian Roma from Verona; one of the girls is reportedly linked to a Camorra family. Angry local people sought revenge after the incident in which the driver failed to stop, leaving one of the victims in a coma. On Friday night, with feelings running high, gypsies caught the alleged culprit and prepared to hand him over to the angry crowd but he escaped.
On the following morning, gas canisters were heard exploding, the first sign that the camps, home to hundreds of Roma, were under attack. Over a thousand gypsies evacuated the area when a second fire started around midday. They headed south to Salerno and Giugliano, and north to Rome and the Lazio region. As fires and arson attacks continued throughout the day, six gypsy camps were completely emptied. Police failed to stop the mobs despite calls asking the emergency services to intervene. Amedeo Curatoli of Opera Nomadi complained:
"How come the police didn't intervene? How is it possible that in Naples squads like those in South America roam freely, forcing people out of their homes and setting property on fire".
Gypsies in Italy are in a particularly vulnerable position as a result of what the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) describes as "a housing policy for Roma premised on the racist and incorrect characterisation of them as nomads", contravening Article 3 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, banning racial segregation. It blames Italian governments for fostering "the segregation of Roma into inhuman and degrading "camps" to which no other segment of the population is confined.
Discrimination against Roma is not confined to housing, it affects employment, education and the justice system. Veronika Leila Szente stressed that the CERD document shows "that Roma in Italy are the victims of police violence and pervasive racial discrimination in virtually all fields of public life."
Roma Rights, no.1, 1999, La Repubblica 20-21.6.99, Independent 22.6.99.