Immigrants Anger Italians

(Rome, Italy) Due to a crime wave and other problems blamed on a flood of immigrants from Romania, the Italian citizenry is angry and calling for political action. As a result, the right-wing Northern League, led by charismatic Umberto Bossi, has grown to be the third-largest parliamentary party.

Indeed, as a thank you for its support, Prime Minister Berlusconi has already promised tough measures against crime, blamed by many Italians on illegal immigrants.


"One of the first things to do is to close the frontiers and set up more camps to identify foreign citizens who don't have jobs and are forced into a life of crime," the 71-year-old conservative leader announced.

"Secondly we need more local police constituting an "army of good" in the piazzas and streets to come between Italian people and the army of evil." Inflammatory language indeed.

The Italian leftists, of course, have their knickers in a twist since increased support for conservatives means dwindling support for communism and socialism.

There is also a strong sense that the river of immigrants, many of whom don't speak Italian, is threatening the indigenous character of Italy while burdening the government welfare roles. Native Italians are outraged and calling for solutions.

At Ardo, the mayor posted a bounty of £400 for anyone turning in an illegal immigrant.

And in Treviso, a League councillor told a session of the council: "With immigrants, we should use the same system the SS used, punishing 10 of them for every slight against one of our citizens."

Another mayor called for a ban on illegal immigrants marrying, another to ban them from being eligible for school scholarships, another to limit Italian citizenship to foreigners with a perfect knowledge of Italian.

When a politician seriously proposes using Nazi SS tactics, you know the controversy has reached a feverish level.

Tip: slwlion