Corriere della Sera, 8 January 2010

Black Spartacus hits back at mafia

Published on 8 January 2010 at 13:56
Corriere della Sera, 8 January 2010

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Enough is enough. After two immigrants working in the fields of Rosarno, Calabria, exploited by the 'ndrangheta (the local mafia) and living in dismal conditions, were wounded with an air gun by unknown assailants, hundreds of African immigrants took to the streets and vented their rage against anything they could find. Violence seemed under control the day after, but a huge protest comprising immigrants from neighbouring towns took place in front of the local council offices placed under direct adminstration from Rome due to lugubrious mafia links. While officials and social workers point to organised crime's brutal treatment of these agricultural labourers, Minister of the Interior Roberto Maroni (Northern) churned out his favourite tune i.e. "too many illegal immigrates"/ "their presence fosters crime". Corriere della Sera's editorialist Angelo Panebianco instead lays the blame on the widening gap between "extreme" opinions on immigration - "there's a number of careless politicians, xenophobes, liberals, over-welcoming priests and judges, all busy sowing the seeds of trouble".

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