Teachers protest Roma people eviction

(ANSA) - Naples, April 6 - Teachers and school principals in the Naples-area town of Torre del Greco on Wednesday protested against what they called a "sudden and savage" order to evict a Roma people camp in a move they say will put Roma school children at risk.
    The eviction order was given "without providing alternative lodging as per European Union regulations", Principals Maria Josè Abilitato and Lucia Massimo and teachers from the G. Falcone-R.Scauda and G.B. Angioletti schools said in a statement.
    "On behalf of the five families of the eight students who regularly and profitably attend school, we urge city officials to suspend the eviction order at least come up with a different living solution," they said.
    The educators called on city officials to "allow (the Roma children) to finish out the school year so as not to render vain a highly successful literacy and integration process".
    Prosecutors on April 2 impounded the area where some 35 citizens of the Roma ethnicity live, giving them until April 12 to vacate the premises or be forcibly evicted.
    The educators expressed "strong indignation" at the measure "distancing Roma children and their families from schools - the only place where the principles of dignity, right to an education, and integration into society are actively practiced".
    "In the last decade, those Roma families who chose to send their children to school did so with commitment and sense of responsibility," the statement said.
    "Students from the Roma community - often working without the benefit of school books - achieved particularly positive results," the educators said.
    "(We) intend to speak for those who have worked hard to affirm a culture of receptiveness, integration and mutual exchange, against prejudice and intolerance".