Telling migrants to “go home” is racism, rules Italy’s top court

In a landmark decision, Italy’s highest court has ruled that telling migrants to “go away” is racism.

The Court of Cassation ruled on Thursday that telling non-EU foreigners to leave the country legally counts as racial discrimination, even if racial slurs are not explicitly used.

The case relates to a man in his early forties who appealed for a reduction in his sentence for injuries against another person, which had been increased on the grounds of racial discrimination.

The man and his co-defendant had clashed with two non-Italians after they approached them at a club in the town of Gallarate in Lombardy and said: “Why are you here, you need to go home.”

The applicant argued that his comments were unrelated to race.

The court, however, found that using generic expressions of contempt toward foreigners that are clearly based on their ethnic or religious backgrounds is equivalent to racism.

The ruling clarifies that Italy legally considers discrimination to occur in verbal attacks where racial superiority is implicit, and not only where racial slurs are used.

Italy’s interior minister and farright League party leader Matteo Salvini, known for making provocative statements regarding minorities and immigrants, responded to the ruling by writing “Go home, go home, go home!!!” on his Facebook page, above a picture of a group of black African men.

Last month he sparked ire among human rights groups by referring to a migrant rescue ship’s cargo as “human meat.”

Italy has experienced several racially-motivated attacks in recent months, the most high profile of which involved the shooting of six African migrants by a far-right sympathiser in the town of Macerata in February.