THE GUARDIAN: Three Romanians were in hospitals in Rome yesterday - one of them seriously injured - after being attacked by a masked, club-wielding gang on Friday night in the latest escalation of racial tension in Italy following the beating to death of a naval captain's wife.
The violence, condemned by local politicians, came as authorities in Milan carried out the first expulsions of Romanians under new legislation that came into effect on Friday allowing for the removal of EU citizens judged to be a threat to public security. Italian television showed four men being hustled aboard an airliner by police after nightfall.
Emotions were again running high yesterday at a funeral service in Rome for Giovanna Reggiani, the 47-year-old woman who was discovered fatally injured in a ditch on Tuesday after being savagely attacked. A young Romanian has been arrested and jailed. He has admitted snatching her bag, but denies beating and sexually assaulting her.
A thousand people packed into the church, in a well-heeled district of the capital, for an ecumenical service conducted by a Protestant pastor and the Italian navy's Roman Catholic chaplain. Large numbers gathered outside, many of them tearful, middle-aged women.
Ms Reggiani, though married to a Catholic, was a member of Italy's tiny Protestant community, the Waldensians. Her husband, the commander of the navy's minesweeping squadron, arrived at the church holding a single red rose. Those who sat nearby said that, throughout the service, he muttered over and again: 'It's not fair'. Violence as Italy expels migrants (more) By John Hooper in Rome
Mark Alexander
