Sixty-eight per cent of Italians, fuelled by often inflammatory attacks by the new rightwing government, want to see all of the country's 150,000 Gypsies, many of them Italian citizens, expelled, according to an opinion poll.The survey, published as mobs in Naples burned down Gypsy camps this week, revealed that the majority also wanted all Gypsy camps in Italy to be demolished .About 70,000 Gypsies in Italy hold Italian passports, including about 30,000 descended from 15th-century Gypsy settlers in the country. The remainder have arrived since, many fleeing the Balkans during the 1990s.Another 10,000 Gypsies came from Romania after it joined the European Union in January 2007, according to an Italian human rights organisation, EveryOne, part of the approximately half million Romanians believed to be in Italy.
Sixty-eight per cent of Italians, fuelled by often inflammatory attacks by the new rightwing government, want to see all of the country's 150,000 Gypsies, many of them Italian citizens, expelled, according to an opinion poll.
The survey, published as mobs in Naples burned down Gypsy camps this week, revealed that the majority also wanted all Gypsy camps in Italy to be demolished .
About 70,000 Gypsies in Italy hold Italian passports, including about 30,000 descended from 15th-century Gypsy settlers in the country. The remainder have arrived since, many fleeing the Balkans during the 1990s.
Another 10,000 Gypsies came from Romania after it joined the European Union in January 2007, according to an Italian human rights organisation, EveryOne, part of the approximately half million Romanians believed to be in Italy.
The question that prompted the response was:
Dismantle the camps and expel all Rom from Italy: 68% Activate policies of social integration for Rom: 27% Do nothing and leave things as they are: 1% No opinion: 4% Total: 100%
A similar intollerance is towards "extra-communitarians". 52% would like to see those that do not have a regular job expulsed.
In conclusion the following question was asked:
I consider them one of us and I like them: Rom 4%, Ex-Comm 23% I tollerate them but do not have an excessive negative sentiment towards them: Rom 24%, Ex-Comm 45% I would like to see the state chase them out of Italy: Rom 41%, Ex-Comm 10% I'm afraid: Rom 27%, Ex-Comm 15% No opinion: Rom: 4%, Ex-Comm 7% Total: 100%
