ROME - Tens of thousands of anti-racism demonstrators took to the streets of Rome on Saturday to denounce a new law passed by Silvio Berlusconi’s government which makes illegal immigration a criminal offence.
The protesters marched from the Piazza della Repubblica through the city’s historic centre towards the Roman forum, accompanied by music and dancers.
Banners dotted around the procession read: ‘No to racism and to criminalising illegal immigration’, ‘Berlusconi, go away!’ and ‘We are all in the same boat,’ — a reference to illegal immigrants who travel by sea from Africa to the southern coast of Italy.
‘I’m demonstrating today because the present government is making the situation more and more difficult,’ said Babacar, a 27-year-old lorry driver from Senegal, who travelled by bus from the southern town of Caserta with 300 others.
The demonstration was organised to mark the 20th anniversary of the city’s first major anti-racism rally.
In October 1989 hundreds of thousands of people descended on Rome after a South African refugee, Jerry Essan Masslo, was killed in Caserta province.
‘Twenty years on racism has still not been defeated. It continues to claim victims and is fed by the policies of the Berlusconi government,’ the organising committee said in its call for demonstrators.
The organisers of the march included the CGIL union, the left wing Sinistra e Liberta (Left and Liberty) party and the communist workers’ party.
The new law, which came into force in August, sets a fine of between 5,000 euros and 10,000 euros (7,400 to 14,900 dollars) for entering or living in Italy illegally — and makes doing so a criminal offence.
Illegal immigrants could also be detained for up to six months in identification and expulsion centres, while persons who rent or provide housing to illegal immigrants can be jailed for up to three years.