A representative of Italy's anti-immigrant Northern league - Berlusconi's main ally in government - has called for racial segregation of trains, trams and buses in Milan.
Matteo Salvini, the league's secretary in Milan, announced that he wants "seats and carriages reserved for the Milanese" on local transport.
Matteo Salvini
Salvini said - “The proposal to set aside seats for Milanese travellers could be implemented in a few years’ time."
He went on to say: “I’ve been using Milan’s public transport for twenty years. Given the general atmosphere of arrogance, rudeness and violence, if nothing is done about it, in ten years’ time there’ll be seats reserved for the Milanese and decent people, the way there once were for war veterans, invalids and pregnant women. If we don’t lay down limits for immigration, that’s what it will come to”.
Pierfrancesco Majorino of the Democratic Party said Salvini's proposal was "Ku Klux Klan material."
Democratic Party leader, Dario Franceschini, said "One's thoughts go back to the affair of Rosa Parks, the black woman who refused to give up her place on the bus and inspired Martin Luther King's struggle."
Salvini tried to play down his comments by saying it was "just a provocation." Berlusconi defended him by saying "... it was a quip, a provocation."
But anyone who has followed Italian politics over the past few years knows that such measures are taken entirely seriously by the extremists in the Northern League. It's just a question of how much they can get away with.
The growing intolerance in Italy even extends to ethnic foods. Not long ago in Lucca the local council banned any new ethnic food outlets from opening up. The campaign against ethnic food spread to Lombardy and to the capital Milan. The promoters claim that they want to "protect local specialties from the growing popularity of ethnic cuisines.” Link here to "Gastronomic Racism."
As for Matteo Salvini's wish to regress to the era of segregation - Italian president, Giorgio Napolitano, spoke of a worrying increase in intolerance and the Italy of Principles party called on the government to disown the idea publicly.
He went on to say: “I’ve been using Milan’s public transport for twenty years. Given the general atmosphere of arrogance, rudeness and violence, if nothing is done about it, in ten years’ time there’ll be seats reserved for the Milanese and decent people, the way there once were for war veterans, invalids and pregnant women. If we don’t lay down limits for immigration, that’s what it will come to”.
Pierfrancesco Majorino of the Democratic Party said Salvini's proposal was "Ku Klux Klan material."
Democratic Party leader, Dario Franceschini, said "One's thoughts go back to the affair of Rosa Parks, the black woman who refused to give up her place on the bus and inspired Martin Luther King's struggle."
Salvini tried to play down his comments by saying it was "just a provocation." Berlusconi defended him by saying "... it was a quip, a provocation."
But anyone who has followed Italian politics over the past few years knows that such measures are taken entirely seriously by the extremists in the Northern League. It's just a question of how much they can get away with.
The growing intolerance in Italy even extends to ethnic foods. Not long ago in Lucca the local council banned any new ethnic food outlets from opening up. The campaign against ethnic food spread to Lombardy and to the capital Milan. The promoters claim that they want to "protect local specialties from the growing popularity of ethnic cuisines.” Link here to "Gastronomic Racism."
As for Matteo Salvini's wish to regress to the era of segregation - Italian president, Giorgio Napolitano, spoke of a worrying increase in intolerance and the Italy of Principles party called on the government to disown the idea publicly.
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