Mauro Cifelli
A tent city close to the Aurelian walls. A camp a stone’s throw from Termini station and San Lorenzo. Dozens of homeless and migrants, mostly African adult males who do not find immediate welcome after identification and then end up sleeping on the street, such as in via Pretoriano. A mini favela – already cleared – which has been cyclically reborn in the center of Rome, for years now. Mattresses and furnishings lying on the side of the road, wooden platforms, improvised nets on makeshift beds. An illegal encampment where the clearing operations began this morning. On the spot the police, carabinieri, police of Rome Capital, Ama operators and the assistants of the social services of the Municipality.
Operation of urban decoration
On site, during the eviction, some operators of the non-profit organization “Baobab Experience”, active since 2015 in the streets of Rome to assist migrants. “Today’s – explains Alice Basiglini, spokesperson – is an operation of pure urban decoration, for aesthetic purposes. A settlement that is there for all to see is sent away, between San Lorenzo and Termini, but we know well that there are dozens of other tent cities and encampments of various kinds more hidden away. For example in the green areas around the Tiburtina station”. For her, Basiglini must be evaluated whether “these evictions are carried out with cultural mediators – she concludes – who explain to these people what is happening, given the excitement of the moment. And we wonder if social services operators will be able to take charge of those who decide to do so, given the delicacy of the situation”.
VIDEOS | Rome and the welcome that doesn’t exist, the camp in the shadow of the Aurelian Walls
The tent city of the transits
In addition to the homeless, the tent city is inhabited by the so-called transients, or foreigners who, having arrived in Italy, see Rome only as a place of passage, dreaming of central or northern Europe. A situation that has continued since 2014, when the abusive tent city in via delle Messi d’oro – in Ponte Mammolo – was evicted under the Marino council, transforming, as a consequence, the Tiburtina station into an open-air dormitory. Among the various tent cities also that of the Aurelian walls, a ticket a stone’s throw from Termini not very attractive in view of the Jubilee.
“One Small Step”
Commenting on the eviction operations, the Fdi councilor Mariacristina Masi in the Capitoline assembly and the councilor of the first town hall Stefano Tozzi: “There are several documents that we have presented in this period to request the eviction of Viale Pretoriano. Also last week at the Capitoline Assembly posed the problem of safety in the city of Rome citing precisely the deteriorated condition of Viale Pretoriano, as in the City Hall, where we have been pushing for some time to reclaim the area by providing those who have spent this winter in the elements with more dignified solutions and carrying out the necessary checks. We learn that the evacuation is taking place right now and we welcome this news which marks a small step, even if there is still a lot of work to do to have a safer city”.
“Laxity of the municipality of Rome”
“We applaud the police and carabinieri operation, at the instigation of the prefecture and Minister Piantedosi, which led to the eviction of an illegal settlement in Viale Pretoriano, Rome, not far from Termini station. An operation that aims to remedy the lax climate of the municipality of Rome, unable to manage this like other social emergencies, leaving the city to chaos and neglect – declare in a joint note Simona Baldassarre, MEP of the League, Luigi Servilio, leader of the League group at the I town hall and Luca Aubert, Coordinator of League I town hall – Restoring decorum and safety means making cities safer and more welcoming, especially for the weakest and most defenseless citizens, at the mercy of degradation and crime produced by these dangerous settlements, unacceptable even for the people who formed them, forced to live in undignified conditions. Safety and decorum must be guaranteed, without ifs and buts. Furthermore, a permanent garrison is needed of law enforcement to prevent the recurrence of such situations”.