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06. 09. 10. - 15:00

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06. 09. 10. - 15:00

Roma Gypsy Camps Smashed

Italian authorities have begun demolishing the first of hundreds of illegal gypsy camps in Rome in a bid to deport thousands of Roma travellers.

Police have already dismantled a camp in the city's Magliana district reporting 16 Romanian nationals for illegal land possession.

Officers broke into the camp under the Magliana viaduct and discovered travellers aged between 16 and 65 living in "shockingly squalid" conditions.

The closure was the first step in a programme of closures announced by Rome's mayor Gianni Alemanno who claims the camps have become a "dangerous" health hazard.

More than 3,0000 Roma travellers have set up home in more than 200 camps across the city, many in lay bys and on roundabouts or other tiny scraps of land.

Now all of them will be razed to the ground this week in Rome's Operation Nomad and any residents who can't prove their income or a permanent address will be deported or moved to official temporary camps.

"The camps will begin to be closed down this week and checks carried out. We are talking about numerous camps that are very small, often with only five to ten residents, and which are frequently in extremely dangerous locations.

"We need to help children and women, but it is equally clear that people who have arrived in Rome must be able to support and house themselves adequately, otherwise they have to leave," said the conservative mayor.

He added: "We will give medical care to new gypsy families coming from France who need it, but then they need to prove their income sources and homes if they want to keep staying here.

"We cannot bear the presence of so many gipsies in Rome any more."

Local fears over health in the camps reached a new high last week when one baby died in a fire at a Roma camp while another was seriously injured.

Hundreds of thousands of Roma gypsies have entered countries like Britain, Italy and France in recent years since Slovakia and Romania joined the EU.

Now mayor Alemanno has called for an EU-wide strategy for the problem.

"Next week our Minister of Home Affairs Roberto Maroni will meet his French colleague and I'm asking them to discuss a European common plan for gipsies that settles their flow and lets them live in good conditions," he explained.

Austrian Times

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