Once again Pesaro is kicking vulnerable Roma families (many of whom have seriously ill members) out of their makeshift homes and onto the street. EveryOne Group delivers a complaint to the Public Prosecutor and to the European Court of Human Rights.
Pesaro, November 26th, 2009.
After presenting documentation on the camp clearance of the abandoned buildings in Via Fermo and Via Solferini; many episodes of discrimination; the health situation of many of the community’s members; the miscarriages suffered by the two Roma mothers during the clearance on February 25th, 2009; and after the deaths of three Roma due to precarious living conditions, the activists are officially asking the Public Prosecutor if there is evidence of a serious failure on behalf of the authorities to carry out their duty, and if that were the case, to take action against those responsible for these shortcomings.
The human rights organization accuses the authorities of violating the following laws: abuse of authority (ex art. 328 c.p.), personal injury (ex art. 582 c.p.) and failure to assist (ex art. 593 c.p.).
“We tried our utmost to get the Town Hall administration to provide assistance for these unfortunate people - people exposed to rigid winter temperatures, without a shelter and a place to sleep, without running water, electricity or food and blankets”, say Malini, Pegoraro and Picciau. “However the only response to our calls for help has been repeated indifference and persecution from the local authorities, with further camp clearances, limitation of movement and threats to take legal action.
Now we are hoping that the Magistracy will intervene and ensure that the Roma in Pesaro are offered a safe place which will safeguard their fundamental rights to life, health, freedom, dignity and family unity”. Today the Roma were again sent away from a plot of private land put at their disposal by the owner (who was immediately fined by the Municipal Police for trying to provide shelter for a small group of fifteen people).
EveryOne Group also intends to make a complaint against the Pesaro institutions to the European Court of Human Rights and the UN International Court of Justice. At the same time the group has protested to the leaders of the PD and IDV, parties whose exponents play an important role in the ethnic cleansing operations underway in Pesaro.
“We are convinced that neither Bersani nor Di Pietro are aware of the violations being carried out by their mayor and one of their councillors. It is disconcerting, “say the activists, “that even today in the European Union there are serious persecutions underway, actions that are leaving vulnerable families homeless, without a shelter, in the middle of winter. It is a sign that in some cities human lives no longer count for anything, particularly if they are the lives of an ethnic group considered unwelcome by the institutions and intolerant citizens. Just like in the years of the racial laws. Only a few minutes ago, a Pesaro citizen called to inform us that some unidentified racists have set fire to an abandoned house (where some Roma families had taken refuge) to prevent them finding another roof over their heads”.
Picture: A dramatic moment during the eviction of the Roma community in Pesaro
