Pope Francis condemns anti-immigrant protests in Rome

Pope Francis yesterday called on city authorities to deal with the “social emergency” created by tensions between residents and immigrants in various Rome suburbs. The pope was speaking after spontaneous street protests had prompted the partial closing of an immigrant reception in the east Rome suburb of Tor Sapienza last Friday.

“In these days in Rome there have been very strong tensions between residents and immigrants. These are events that have happened in various European cities, especially in outlying neighbourhoods marked by other hardships. I invite the institutions, at all levels, to take as a priority that which now constitutes a social emergency and that, if not addressed promptly and in an adequate way, risks becoming worse,” said the pope during his Angelus address in St. Peter’s Square yesterday.

Residents in Tor Sapienza argue that city authorities are more concerned with looking after migrants and political refugees than with administering the quartiere properly. Tor Sapienza is a working class district, plagued by high unemployment and petty crime.

Widespread crime

Residents argue that poor street lighting, inadequate rubbish collection and widespread petty crime reflect the extent to which their suburb and others like it have been “abandoned”.

In that context, they resent the fact that four migrant reception centres and one camp for Roma families have been established in and around Tor Sapienza. Frustrated residents also hold migrants responsible for a lot of petty crime, including house robberies, sexual harassment and drug-dealing.

Early last week, that frustration spilled on to the streets in the wake of reports of four incidents of attempted rape and sexual harassment by migrants. Up to 400 residents gathered at a migrant reception centre, throwing bricks and stones and calling for the migrants to “Go away”.

Observers suggest, however, that the suburb’s social problems are more attributable to local criminals rather than to the small migrant community. At the end of three nights of protests, Rome city council opted to partially close one structure, moving 45 of the 83 people housed there to alternative residencies. All 45 moved were young migrants and/or asylum seekers, nearly all from north Africa, who arrived in Italy clandestinely this summer.

Catholic relief organisation Caritas called the Tor Sapienza centre a “model structure” as it attempted to help the social integration of young migrants.

The Sant’Egidio community called the street riots a “war between the have-nots”, arguing that they had a racist origin. Last September, another Rome suburb, Corcolle, was the scene of similar violence. Inevitably, centre-right forces have been quick to exploit the tensions with senior Northern League figure Mario Borghezio visiting Tor Sapienza last Friday to express his solidarity with the local community and with the extreme right-wing movement Casa Pound.

Some 3.7 million non-EU migrants live in Italy. This year has also seen a sharp rise in the numbers of boat people, with more than 135,000 “arrivals”. Some 20 per cent of migrants who ask for political asylum are housed in Rome.