(15 October 2018) – In Calabria, the mayor of Riace has welcomed many migrants to revive his moribund village. Experience was considered in Italy as a model of integration. The Ministry of the Interior, led by the leader of the extreme right Matteo Salvini, decided to evacuate the migrants from the village, on the grounds of irregularities.
Saturday, after the arrest in early October of the mayor of the village of Riace, Domenico Lucano, under the accusation of having committed irregularities for the benefit of asylum seekers, the Ministry of the Interior ordered the transfer to centres of accommodation of migrants who have settled in the village.
Interior Minister Matteo Salvini (far right) and his League party have made Riace an example of their “war against the business of immigration” while the village is presented by the supporters of the mayor as a flagship experience integration of newcomers into a moribund commune.
“Stop Salvini. Do not close your eyes”, said the National Association of Italian Supporters (ANPI) in an appeal to the 5-star Movement (M5S), an antisystem party member of the ruling coalition alongside the League. ANPI felt that the government should instead go to war against organized crime in Calabria, a stronghold of the mafia.
Some 200 people who have settled in this depopulated locality will be affected, according to Italian media. (Ouest-France)