Around 100 immigrant squatters
evicted Saturday from a building in Rome's central Piazza
Indipendenza on Thursday scuffled with police who cleared them
from the square.
Over 400 Eritrean refugees and asylum seekers had been in the
apartment block for the last four years.
The immigrants threw rocks, bottle and gas tanks at police
who were trying to move them out of gardens in the square.
Two immigrants were arrested.
One of them was arrested as he was giving an interview to La7
TV. The incident spurred cries of "shame, shame" from other
immigrants.
One refugee woman said "we were woken up by the fire hydrants
and some women were beaten with truncheons".
The vast majority of the immigrants are Eritreans, who have
fled harsh living conditions and duress in the army where they
were forced to enlist.
Fire hydrants were used against the immigrants evicted as
women knelt on the ground and raised their arms to stop being
removed, crying "shame".
One woman fell to the ground and was slightly hurt.
After the clashes with police, the immigrants dispersed into
streets adjacent to the nearby Termini central rail station.
Fresh scuffles broke out in front of the station after
immigrants tried to block traffic in Piazza dei Cinquecento.
A woman had a bad turn because of the fright she was given,
sources from the movements for housing said.
A police officer chasing evicted refugees outside Termini is
heard saying "if they throw things break their arms" on a video
posted to Facebook.
Rome Prefect Paolo Basilone congratulated the police on their
"hard work", saying that "legality has been restored to the
square".
She said the immigrants had been "infiltrated" by the leftist
Movements for the Struggle for Housing who had allegedly
persuaded them to refuse alternative accommodation.
Anti-immigrant Northern League leader Matteo Salvini lauded
the police operation.
"Bottles and rocks against the police this morning at dawn by
100 or so immigrants illegally camped out in the gardens of
Piazza Indipendenza in Rome," Salvini said on Facebook.
"Come on boys, evictions, order, cleanliness and
deportations! The Italians are with you."
Giorgia Meloni of the small rightist Brothers of Italy party
said "anyone who commits crimes must be deported".
The chair of the Senate human rights committee, Luigi Manconi
of the ruling centre-left Democratic Party (PD), on Thursday
criticised what he said was Rome city council's "neglect" of an
immigrant housing issue that he said led to the scuffles.
"For the second day running, the police has intervened to
clear a building that for years has hosted hundreds of Eritrean
refugees, in Rome's Via Curtatone," Manconi said.
"As it was easy to foresee, considering the absence of any
alternative proposal and the irresponsible neglect by the city
administration, the case has caused violence and left people
injured".
Humanitarian organisations protested against what they said
was a further sign that the centre-left national government was
aping rightwing stances on immigration.
The Missionaries of St Charles Borromeo said that the evicted
immigrants were "victims twice over", calling for "concrete
measures" to help them.
"Firstly they are victims in their homeland from which they
were forced to flee to hope in a semblance of better life,
worthy of the name; and now again here, in Italy, where even
though they have regular permits they have no kind of guarantee
for a roof over their heads they can call home," said the order,
also called Scalabrinians, in a statement.
Small leftwing parties including the Progressive and
Democratic Movement (MDP), a splinter group from the PD, said
Interior Minister Marco Minniti, a member of the PD, should
report to parliament.
They also said it was "essential" to find temporary
accommodation for the immigrants and then map out a "definitive"
solution for them, pointing out that they had valid residency
permits.
There are "numerous families with children" among the
refugees and asylum seekers, the MDP said.
SAP, a police union, said "we have to do the dirty work,
picking up the pieces after government mistakes".
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