Gianni Alemanno and Amnesty International fight over Romania gypsies

Rome’s mayor, Gianni Alemanno launched a massive evacuation campaign of gypsy camps in or nearby Rome. The first action targeted Romanian gypsies in the Casilino 700 camp, in South East of the capital. The campaign of the mayor triggered important protests, especially from voluntary associations and from professors who appreciate Rroma pupils who attend classes in the neighborhood.

The situation became rather tense once Amnesty International got involved and criticized the mayor. They accused him of breaching international regulations on human rights. However, Alemanno declared that Amnesty should publicly apologize for publishing lies.

The first evacuation campaign of Casilino 700 camp started last week, on November 11: 80 barracks were controlled and 20 persons were escorted to the police for identification. Authorities informed that cleaning will last about 20 days.

Several members of voluntary associations were presented at the action and urged that authorities should call cultural mediators as Romanian language translators. Representatives of the associations declared that a massive deportation took place at the camp.

Rome’s city hall offered gypsies a shelter and 68 gypsies accepted it, sources from the city hall declared for HotNews.ro. Meanwhile, Amnesty International declared that they will call for material damages for the Romanian gypsies evacuated without a notice.