Despite a decision by the European Court of Human Rights to halt the evacuation of a Roma camp in northern Rome, Italian police and municipal authorities evicted its roughly 300 residents on July 26.
The operation at Camping River started in the early morning and deployed a large police contingent, continuing throughout the day. By early afternoon, however, more than 100 residents were still outside the camp’s gate with their belongings and said they had nowhere to go.
Some of the evicted families had been lucky to find some shade amid cardboard boxes, luggage, and piled up mattresses strewn in front of the entrance to the camp, as well as along the long country road that leads to the nearest village. A woman pushed a fridge up the road on a cart, but was not able to say where she was headed.
On July 24, the European Court of Human Rights ordered the Italian government to halt the eviction following an appeal filed by three of the camp’s residents aided by human rights organisation Associazione 21 Luglio.
“The court had asked the government to clarify the situation of those who filed the recourse,” Elena Risi, a spokesperson for the organisation, told Al Jazeera. “The deadline was tomorrow.”
But Italy’s far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, in a meeting with Rome’s Mayor Virginia Raggi on Wednesday, said the eviction was to proceed, despite the Strasbourg court’s decision.
Source: Al-jazeera
