Italian politician urges Nazi anti-immigrant policies

Italy: Local politician urges SS-style policies against immigrants

Treviso, 5 Dec. (AKI) - A local councillor in the northern city of Treviso has called for "10 immigrants to be punished for every crime against our citizens", reviving harrowing memories of a World War II Nazi atrocity in Italy.

During a council meeting earlier this week, Giorgio Bettio said: "With immigrants, we should use the same system the [Nazi] SS used, punish 10 of them for every crime committed against an Italian citizen."

Bettio was elected as a councillor for Italy's anti-immigrant Northern League, but the party says Bettio is no longer a member.

Politicians from across the political spectrum, commentators and representatives of Italy's Jewish community have condemned Bettio's remarks. The remarks evoked memories of the notorious 1944 Ardeatine Caves massacre in Rome when Adolf Hitler ordered 10 Italians to be killed for each of 33 German soldiers killed in a partisan attack.

Parliamentarians accused Betttio of fomenting racism and asked the Italian government to formally censure him. A leader of Rome's Jewish community, Riccardo Pacifici described Bettio's comments as "abhorrent."

Italy's social solidarity minister Paolo Ferrero attacked the Northern League saying Bettio's remarks had shown what the party "really thinks."

"Just as the Nazis used Jews as scapegoats for the social problems of the era, there are people in Italy today who are blaming immigrants for every ill, and exploiting social fears that have a thousand causes," said Ferrero.

Treviso's mayor, Gianpaolo Gobbo said Bettio's words had been an "an absurd provocation worthy of severe reproach."

Gobbo's comments followed a request from the Italian parliament's deputy speaker, centre-left MP Pierluigi Castagnetti to Northern League's leadership to condemn Bettio's comments.

Immigration is a major issue in Italy's northeastern Veneto region, where Treviso is located, and anti-foreigner sentiment has been increasing in Veneto and elsewhere, in response to growing immigration, much of it from eastern Europe.

Some 40 towns in Veneto have recently introduced measures to keep out poor, homeless or unemployed migrants. Foreigners may only apply for residency if they have a regular job, earn at least 5,000 euros per year, have "adequate" housing and are not "socially dangerous".

More widely, many Italians would like a crackdown on immigrants, which they blame for worrying increases in crime rates as well as unemployment.

The government last month issued a decree making it easier to expel immigrants deemed a threat to public safety.