Rome, November 12th, 2008. They are acting without any scruples. There is no humanity left in Rome, no laws in Rome, besides the law of hatred.

After the ethnic cleansing of the Casilino 700 camp, in which 500 people from the Roma minority group were thrown out onto the street (including many women, children and seriously ill people), the police force rushed to the ex Heineken factory, where about 150 homeless and desperate Roma had taken shelter.

Human rights activists and organizations have protested loudly against this new evacuation, but the police have received strict orders to clear the emergency shelters, with ruthless speed and without allowing any room for humanity to seep through.

“I am ashamed to be a member of the police force,” a police officer confessed to us some time ago, “because we are now being asked to persecute innocent and helpless children, women and vulnerable human beings”. They may be ashamed, but they are still continuing to carry out the “measures” entrusted to them, these willing bullies of Umberto Bossi (the real Minister of the Interior) and Alemanno, the Mayor of Rome.

The authorities have forced the adult Roma to sign requests for voluntary repatriation. The campaign for the rights of the Roma of the Casilino 700 Camp promoted by EveryOne Group and immediately taken up by the Red Cross, Amnesty International and dozens of humanitarian organizations has merely stirred the indignation of antiracists.

“We are sure the Roma were told to sign declarations they didn’t even understand,” say some leaders from humanitarian associations, “and on the buses were children who attend the local schools. We believe this operation was a deportation in the truest sense of the word”. The bullies identified about 100 Roma, and offered them the usual formula: “If you want, we can send the women and children to shelters, but their husbands and fathers have to go”.

Only about a dozen people took up the offer (later reported as “they refused help”) while the married couples, according to Roma law, decided to stick together whatever happened, and were thrown out onto the street in the cold. Many of the families were deported back to Romania (an illegal action seeing they are EU citizens) and other unknown destinations.

Hundreds of people from the Roma ethnic group are now without a shelter and belongings, at the mercy of the harsh winter weather and vulnerable to racist attacks. The humanitarian organizations are doing their utmost to help these people, while the authorities and media are activating the usual strategies to prevent the real news of this terrible humanitarian tragedy taking place in Italy’s capital getting out.