The Italian government is conducting a racist census to collect personal data from all Roma people in the country.
Fingerprints, photographs, ethnicity and religion of all Roma, including children and regardless of citizenship, will be added to a database. Italy’s highest appeal court had ruled in June that it was acceptable to discriminate against Roma because they are “thieves.”
Italian Interior Minister Roberto Maroni has said the census will “fight crime” and put an end to “illegal” camps.
Since May, thousands of people have taken to the streets in Rome and the rest of Italy to demand an end to anti-Roma racism.
On July 13, Italy was forced to adjust the law to make it look “less racist”. By January 2010, fingerprints will be on all Italian identification cards. Maroni has repeatedly said that the census of the 150,000 Roma will continue until it is finished.
