The model for a new Italy? Town that expelled 200 migrants, blocked a new mosque and will use FACIAL RECOGNITION to scan all residents could be copied across the country if Berlusconi wins election in a week
- Silvio Berlusconi's right-wing coalition praises the town of Sesto San Giovanni
- It has expelled nearly 200 migrants and blocked plans to build a mosque
- Migration is a major issue in the elections, with the government set to lose votes
- It has warned about the danger of organised crime affecting the vote
An Italian town
which is overtly anti-immigrant has been cited by Silvio Berlusconi's
right-wing coalition as an example to follow if it wins elections next
month.
The authorities in Sesto San Giovanni, on the outskirts of Milan, have expelled nearly 200 migrants and blocked plans to build a mosque, The Times (paywall) reported.
So
strident are its anti-immigrant views that plans are also afoot to
screen every migrant entering its streets through CCTV equipped with
facial-recognition technology perfected in Israel.
Anis Amri, the man who committed the 2016 Berlin Christmas market attack, was shot dead in Sesto San Giovanni
Silvio Berlusconi's right-wing coalition has made no secret of its stridently anti-immigration policies
Mr Berlusconi and his supporters are seeking to exploit several widely held grievances against immigrants
'This
town is the absolute example for other Italian cities to follow. It's
already carrying out our programme,' said Guido Della Frera, who is
standing locally for election with Mr Berlusconi's Forza Italia party.
Sesto
San Giovanni has expelled 194 migrants who it is claimed were sleeping
in the streets and disturbing people, which is a record for an Italian
town, Mayor Roberto di Stefano said.
'What
is happening now is the model for what happens next in Italy,' he said
in his office overlooking the town's neat streets. 'We have shown it's
possible.'
Sesto, a former industrial
town that is now effectively part of Milan, was once nicknamed the
Stalingrad of Italy for its strong left-wing politics, but as the
factories closed and migrants moved in, the mood began to change and
there was a move towards more right wing politics.
Former
Prime Minister Berlusconi has spent the campaign in competition with
his coalition partner, Matteo Salvini of the anti-migrant Northern
League, to see who is the most assertive when it comes to throwing out
the largest number of illegal migrants from Italy.
The
tactic appears to have borne dividends because the coalition now has a
lead in the polls, reflecting a rise in intolerance in Italy since the
arrival of 600,000 migrants over the past four years.
The
coalition has exploited four widely held grievances against immigrants -
which critics say are mostly erroneous or are misconceptions: there are
too many of them, they cost too much money, they laze about all day and
they bring crime.
A forensic police officer looks at
graffiti reading in Italian 'Death to the cops' on a vandalized monument
honouring police killed by Red Brigades terrorists, in Rome - there
have been several acts of vandalism and violence committed during
Italy's tense election campaign
Mr Berlusconi is cheered by
followers prior to a meeting with European People's Party President
Manfred Weber in Rome on Wednesday
Video playing bottom right...
Critics say that in fact illegal
immigrants comprise less than one percent of the population, legal
migrants bring in between 2.1 and 2.8 billion euros more than they cost
while many illegal migrants cannot work until their paperwork is
completed. Government figures show that in 2017 murders dropped by
nearly 12 percent, robberies by 11 percent and burglaries by nine
percent.
Nevertheless Italy's
migration surge has contributed towards the growing unpopularity of its
centre-left government, which will almost certainly be removed from
office on March 4.
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Interior Minister Marco Minniti
meanwhile warned on Wednesday that Italian organized crime syndicates
could try to influence the results of the March 4 vote which will
determine the formation Italy's next government.
'The
risk, is, unfortunately, concrete, that the Mafia can condition the
free vote in our country,' Minniti said at a presentation of
Parliament's annual report on organized crime. 'We understand that's a
threat to the most important thing in democracy'.
Already
in the campaign acts of violence and intimidation have taken place.
A bullet was sent in the mail to a parliamentary candidate and two
people were knifed while putting up campaign posters.
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