Illegal migrants are a ticking ‘social bomb’, warns Berlusconi
SILVIO BERLUSCONI has warned that hundreds of thousands of unauthorised migrants living in Italy are a “social bomb”, as issues of race and violence take centre-stage in the country’s election campaign.
The three-times prime minister made the remarks after a lone gunman randomly opened fire in Macerata, central Italy, wounding six black migrants. The attack was an apparent retaliation for the brutal murder and dismember- ment of an Italian teenager, allegedly by a Nigerian immigrant.
Echoing language used by the hardright anti-immigration Northern League, a party that he has allied himself with, Mr Berlusconi said: “In Italy today we have 630,000 migrants of whom only 30,000, or five per cent, have the right to be here, having been recognised as refugees. The others represent a social bomb that is ready to explode. Immigration is a very urgent issue.”
Italy has been inundated with migrants and refugees, mostly via North Africa, with 600,000 arriving in the past four years after being rescued in the Mediterranean. Many ordinary Italians say that enough is enough.
It is estimated that there are around 500,000 unauthorised migrants in Italy – their applications for asylum were turned down by the state, but they stayed anyway, subsisting as best they can on seasonal work, part-time jobs and begging. Many women are forced into prostitution on the streets.
There are up to a further 200,000 migrants who are waiting to hear whether they will be granted asylum.
Mr Berlusconi leads a centre-right coalition that is expected to win the most votes of any political force when Italians go to the polls on March 4.
His alarmist language appeared to have been co-opted from Matteo Salvini, the leader of the Northern League, who recently said that if he were elected prime minister one of his principal objectives would be to expel half a million migrants.
“We consider it an absolute priority to take back control of the situation,” said Mr Berlusconi, who cannot be prime minister because of a ban on holding public office resulting from a tax-fraud conviction.
Political opponents accused him of commandeering the inflammatory rhetoric of the Right for short-term electoral gain.
“Berlusconi has aligned himself with the opinions of Salvini. This is really serious at a time when we should not be taking advantage [of the murder and shootings] in the political campaign,” said Matteo Orfini, the president of the governing Democratic Party which is expected to be punished at the polls, in part for its liberal policies on migration.
“After the terrible events in Macerata, we say we need to calm down and reflect, whereas they want to exploit what has happened.”
He was referring to the town in the Marche region where Pamela Mastropietro, an 18-year-old Italian woman, was murdered last week. Her body was chopped up and stuffed into two suitcases, then dumped in waste ground. A Nigerian man, an alleged drug dealer whose asylum application had been turned down, has been arrested on suspicion of the killing.
On Saturday, Luca Traini, 28, an Italian man with far-right sympathies, allegedly opened fire in Macerata, targeting six African migrants, apparently in revenge for the murder.