Berlusconi tones down migrant call

(ANSA) - Rome, February 5 - Centre-right leader Silvio Berlusconi on Monday reiterated his warning over the numbers of migrants in Italy after Saturday's racist shooting of six migrants in Macerata as revenge for the murder of an Italian woman.
    Berlusconi described the shooting by rightist militant Luca Traini as an isolated act of non-political madness but appeared to stand by his call for 600,000 migrants to be deported after the shooting in the sleepy provincial city that shocked Italy and gained international headlines.
    Traini, a 28-year-old militant for the anti-migrant League, shot and wounded six migrants in a drive-by shooting spree in the Marche city days after the discovery there of the body of an 18-year-old Italian woman allegedly killed and dismembered by a Nigerian immigrant.
    "600,000 migrants are a social bomb that risks exploding," said Berlusconi on Sunday, echoing League leader Matteo Salvini who said "those who fill us with migrants instigate violence" like Traini's.
    Salvini's critics have accused him with his incessant anti-migrant invective of "morally arming" Traini, who is now being held in the same jail as Innocent Oseghale, the alleged drug pusher who allegedly killed recovering drug addict Pamela Mastropietro before stuffing her hacked-up body into two suitcases and dumping them near Macerata.
    Apparently revising his deportation stance, Berlusconi said Monday Traini's action was "madness". The three-time ex-premier and media magnate said "it's something incomprehensible: only an unbalanced person could do something like that, I don't see anything political because politics doesn't lead to these follies".
    But then he said that the centre left was to blame for the 630,000 migrants he said were now in Italy.
    The former premier and billionaire mogul said that immigration dropped sharply under his last government and then spiked under successive centre-left governments leading to a "vertical drop in security". "The centre right in government was able to stop immigration," he said, referring to a deal with former Libyan leader Muammar Gheddafi.
    "In 2010 only 4,400 illegal immigrants arrived, the same as one weekend last year.
    "Because of the centre-left governments we now have 630,000 illegals, with a vertical drop in security".
    It is a good idea to scrub the term 'race' from the Italian Constitution, Berlusconi went on.
    "Italians are not racists, we are hospitable," he said on Italian TV. "There is not a general climate of hatred but some people who are out of their heads, like the gentleman in Macerata, who wallow in this atmosphere".
    Article 3 of the Constitution says all citizens are equal without distinction of gender, race, language, religion, political opinions and personal and social conditions.
    Centre-right Lombardy governor candidate Attilio Fontana, of the League, recently defended himself in a row over his assertion that Italy's "white race is at risk" due to migration, saying that "the Italian Constitution itself speaks about race".
    Meanwhile Salvini said Monday being described as a "bad teacher" for allegedly fomenting Traini's racist hatred "recalls the (Red Brigades) BR". "I'm getting a lot of insults," said Salvini.
    "I would be careful about using such words (as bad teachers).
    "Evoking that period is not intelligent, it's better to comment with your head than your mouth".
    Gunmen can't ensure security, Democratic Party (PD) leader Matteo Renzi said. "Gunmen can't guarantee security in Italy," said the ex-premier of League militant Traini. "We must invest in Carabinieri and policemen". He said "we propose hiring 10,000 men because those who wink at gunmen today blocked (police) hirings," referring to the centre right. "Above all there is Italy, the defence of Italy and the Italians and you defend them are the forces of order, not gunmen who fire wildly".
    Renzi responded to Berlusconi's calling migrants a "social bomb" by saying the three-time ex-premier had signed the Dublin Regulation in 2003 mandating that migrants be processed in their country of arrival. "So Berlusconi says that migrants in Italy are a social bomb? But immigration derives from two factors: with the Dublin treaties each country has to manage immigration alone, and the he signed the accords he now contests in 2003. "And if migrants are arriving in Italy it's because someone waged war in Libya, and the premier (at that time) was Berlusconi." Anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) leader Luigi Di Maio agreed, saying "here's a message for the forgetful Berlusconi...he forgets that the main culprit for the social bomb of immigration was himself." Accusing Berlusconi of "betraying the homeland", Di Maio said "Berlusconi created the social bomb by bombing Libya".
    Italian Bishops' Conference (CEI) President Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti said Monday "we must say no to xenophobia, social rancour and the 'entrepreneurs of fear'" amid migrant fears.
    "We must unite Italy, 'reknit' our communities," said the CEI chief. "In the name of God we invoke sobriety, peace and dialogue", he said.
    A copy of Mein Kampf as well as far-right insignia were found at Traini's home.
    Traini told police Monday he shot the migrants to avenge Mastropietro. "I wanted to avenge Pamela (Mastropietro), because the phenomenon of illegal immigration must be stopped," said Traini, according to police sources. Traini told police he had initially wanted to go to court and kill Innocent Oseghale. Traini said he changed his mind "at the last minute" and decided to target African migrants in the streets of the Marche city.
    Traini told police he had not meant to hit a Nigerian woman. "How is the girl, I didn't mean to hit her," said Traini, who is being held for multiple attempted murder aggravated by racial hatred.
    The young woman, Jennifer, was hit in the back near Macerat's railway station. Sources said police would request the confirmation of his arrest later today. A hearing for the arrest confirmation will be held tomorrow, they said.