There are only about 1,000 or so hardcore neo-Nazi skinheads in Italy, according to official estimates. But Interior Minister Nicola Mancino is concerned about signs that the violent shaven-headed youths have increasing contact with right-wing extremists abroad.
In a report to an Italian Senate commission, Mancino warned last week that members of the Rome-based Political Movement of the West, the biggest skinhead group here, have had “increasingly intensive contacts” with right-wing extremists who fled to London to escape Italian law.
Also alarming, he said, is the apparent “return to activism” of several extremists linked to right-wing terrorist attacks that took place in the 1970s and 1980s.
“The phenomenon of anti-Semitism should not be minimized,” he said. “To say that it is under control doesn’t mean that right-wing extremism has been canceled out completely, either in terms of violence or anti-Semitism.”
Mancino said that 44 acts of anti-Semitism had been registered so far this year.
He said he worried that any appearance that the authorities are “lukewarm” in reacting to anti-Semitism and skinhead activities might be seen as “tacit approval” and lead to “more significant actions against the Jewish community.”
Mancino also said there has been a sharp rise in acts of violence against Third World immigrants in Italy in the first half of this year.
This, he said, could indicate that “the xenophobic political message of militant groups of the radical right are regularly received and acted upon by the skinheads.”
In connection with these findings, Rome Mayor Franco Carraro met last week with Prosecutor General Vittorio Mele to discuss the possibility of closing down known headquarters and hangouts of neo-Nazi skinhead groups in the capital.
At the same time, Justice Minister Claudio Martelli visited the hospital bedside of Zuhir Sayad, a Palestinian boy who was severely beaten by classmates in a Rome school a few days ago because he defended the Jews.
“A young Palestinian was beaten up because he wanted to defend the Jews. It’s a little incident that nonetheless is very instructive,” Martelli told reporters as he left the hospital.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
