Posted on 11/03/2017 6:28:08 AM PDT by Jagermonster
PATTERNS OF THOUGHT In Italy, a country traditionally tolerant of immigrants, the public mood has shifted against them. That has prompted the government to take a harder line in a bid to stem the rise of right wing, anti-Muslim parties ahead of national elections.
ROME—Every weekday afternoon, lawyer Iacopo Maria Pitorri leaves his office for a few minutes to offer legal advice to a crowd of migrants waiting for him outside Rome’s Termini Station.
“My colleagues don’t want these people to come into the office so I come downstairs,” Mr. Pitorri says.
Not far away, in Piazza Venezia, a group of security guards is trying to prevent another illegal occupation of a building that the police had violently evicted at the end of August. “We’re getting rid of all the" Africans, one of them says, continuing on in insulting language that produce laughter from the others.
Around the square, Romans shudder when asked about migration. In the outskirts of Rome, at a makeshift camp that is home to hundreds of migrants and refugees, volunteer Adelaide Massimi reflects on the mood shift in Italian society regarding the migration issue.
“All the newspapers talk about now is Muslims raping women and children dying from malaria brought to Italy by African migrants. People are attacking Doctors without Borders on social media for helping migrants. Something is changing in Italy,” says Ms. Massimi.
Italian society has traditionally welcomed migrants, but the tide seems to be turning as Italians grow increasingly polarized on the issue. The public's support for an open-door policy has dropped significantly in the past 12 months, and anti-immigrant parties won major gains in local elections this year. They seem set to repeat that performance in national elections in 2018.
As sympathy for migrants wears...
(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...
Italy is a nice country. Italians are nicer than most Europeans. They have no problem with visitors or foreigners as long as they act like civilized humans. The recent arrivals don’t, and should be kicked out.
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