Not giving up on Roma census - Salvini (3)

(ANSA) - Rome, June 19 - Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said Tuesday that he was not backing down on his controversial proposal to have a census of the people of Roma ethnicity in Italy. "'Census' of Roma and control of the public money spent (on them)," Salvini, who is also deputy premier and League leader, said on Facebook.
    "If the left proposes it, then it is all right, but if I propose it, then it is RACISM.
    "I'm not giving up, I'm going straight on! The Italians and their security come first". The 21 Luglio association that defends the rights of the nation's Roma and Sinti communities said Salvini's plan was illegal. Noemi Di Segni, the president of Italy's union of Jewish communities, said the proposal recalled the Fascist racial laws.
    The opposition centre-left Democratic Party (PD) said the plan was "abhorrent".