Posted on 04/14/2007 1:25:06 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Milan police in Chinatown clash
By David Willey
BBC News, Rome
The riot broke out after a Chinese woman was given a traffic fine
Italian riot police have broken up a violent protest in Milan's Chinatown by scores of Chinese immigrants.
About 10 police officers were injured and a similar number of Chinese people received hospital treatment.
The trouble began when a Chinese woman was fined for illegally transporting goods in a private vehicle.
More than 100 Chinese shopkeepers and members of their families, many waving the national flag, massed in the street claiming racial discrimination.
Baton charge
During the unrest, which lasted until nightfall, a car was overturned and the police carried out a baton charge. The woman was arrested and later admitted to hospital.
The Chinese immigrant community in Italy has grown very rapidly during the past 10 years.
Normally, they keep a very low profile and cause little trouble to the authorities.
According to official statistics, there are about 114,000 Chinese currently living in Italy, but the true figure is probably double this number because of widespread illegal immigration.
In Milan alone, the resident Chinese population has more than doubled to about 12,000 in about 10 years. Other cities with a large Chinese community include the capital, Rome, and Prato, in Tuscany, where Chinese workers are employed in the textile dyeing industry.
In Rome and Milan wholesale distributors of goods made in China occupy entire quarters of the two cities. It was the noise and traffic caused by these businesses which sparked off the rioting in Milan.
Ping!
I thought you were skroowin’ with me;0)till I saw the pics,,,(shakin’ head)...
They were funky Chinamen, from funky Chinatown, they were chopping them up and chopping them down-it’s an ancient Chinese art, and everybody knew their part.
Bookmark.
I wonder what that means? Is there some sort of Italian law forbidding transportation of goods by private vehicles?
I also wonder what is going on with the apparently fervent feeling for Red China's flag displayed by these protestors? I haven't seen much of that from Chinese living overseas.
The trouble began when a Chinese woman was fined for illegally transporting goods in a private vehicle.
I can see some cases where certain types of goods should be properly transported by special vehicles, but I wonder what exactly it was she was fined for carrying in a personal vehicle? Is this the result of some socialist law requiring that all commercial goods be carried by commercially licensed vehicles, regardless of quantity and type? Or was she in fact transporting goods in an unsafe and unhealthy manner, thereby triggering the need to give her a fine for possibly endangering consumers who might buy those goods from her?
A little more info, but not much.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21554083-2703,00.html
I found another story posted about the same rioting, and it has the original incident as a parking violation:
Several dozen people including police officers suffered injuries in Thursday's melee, which developed after a shopkeeper of Chinese origin loudly protested a fine of 40 euros (54 dollars) for parking illegally.
It seems to me pretty over-the-top behavior to start waving flags from Red China over a simple parking ticket.
Officials said the protest started when traffic police, who want to tighten control of commercial traffic in the area of wholesale clothing stores, fined a driver and took away his licence because he was carrying merchant goods in a private car.
That still sounds very odd to me. Do the Italians require that you use a public vehicle to carry merchant goods?
I wish I knew.
Sportin’ the PRC flag...not gonna get much sympathy with that one.
Mentioned the traffic thing...thought it might be Taiwanese...lol.
Seems like an out of proportion reaction due to pent-up feelings to me.
Found this in a search of “Chinese living in Italy”:
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2195213,00.html
...There are now around 1,300 Chinese-owned small businesses in the region — all operating in the fashion sector — and employing about 13,000 Chinese laborers. But are these businesses acting legally as part of the local economy? ...
...Illegal immigration is also an issue. The regional authorities can only estimate, but they believe around one in ten Chinese workers doesn’t even have a residence permit. The fact that the Chinese community is notoriously close-knit and impenetrable has not improved matters. Borsari said all these factors highlighted the need for a project to aid integration...
Although there haven’t been any incidents of violence, there has been plenty of local protest over unfair competition. Many Italian-owned small businesses have closed down or been bought out, leading indignant protesters to call for the Chinese to go home...
Great!!!
If they could get the Chicoms to fight the Arabs you would have a perfect riot.
Very disturbing that they are waving the communist flag. Europe better wake up before they have islam and communism ruling.
Italy uses rubber batons?
It looks like a piece of cut off water hose.
It is illegal in some countries to engage in transporting commercial retail products in a private vehicle. It has to do with insurance, quality of goods control, and a user pay philosophy for road use ( commercial transport vehicles must pay a higher registration fees for heavier road use). Then there is a desire not to have private vehicles driving down the Appian Way with chicken cages tied on to private vehicles externally.
Cop stops women, tickets her and impounds vehicle, riot ensues and the Communist Chinese whip out their flags and Mao Tse Tung power salutes.
No Dim Sum that day!
Gucci Chinoise? Who woulda think it.
I see no blood on any of the rioters, or the police.This was a smurf turfing of wound up non assimilated Italian Chinese.
Non assimilation will be the death of Europe.
We in the melting pot nation must bear that fact in mind as the hoards of illegal aliens attempt to bend our will away from the melting pot of our Republic, where immigrants are forged in the furnace of freedom into patriot citizens.
If that furnace fire is extinguished, America will be in really "Big Trouble in Little China."
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