UN voices concern over refugee evictions in Rome
2017-08-25 09:50:35 Written by AFP Published in English Articles Read 3072 times-
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ROME - The UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR) on Sunday voiced “grave concern” over the eviction of 800 people from a Rome building squatted mainly by asylum seekers and refugees from Eritrea and Ethiopia. The agency said 200 of those expelled from the building on Saturday had had to sleep on the streets, in a city already home to hundreds of homeless refugees from persecution and war, including many children.
“UNHCR hopes local and national authorities can find an immediate solution for the people currently sleeping under the stars and ensure adequate integration measures for those with a right to international protection,” the organisation’s Italy branch said in a statement. The building, located near Rome’s Termini main train station, had been occupied peacefully since 2013.
Commentators interpreted the unexpected eviction — carried out when Rome is virtually deserted at the height of the holiday season — as a sign of hardening attitudes in Italy towards asylum seekers.
More than 600,000 people from Africa, Asia and the Middle East have arrived in the country since 2014.
