Racist crowd sets fire to a Roma squatter camp after a false accusation of rape

Turin - We live in the age of digital technology and global communications, but we have not moved on from the medieval "witch hunt" mentality. A 16-year-old girl reported to the police in Turin that she had been raped on Wednesday evening.

The young woman told the authorities that she was approached by two Roma men who forced her into a doorway near the Vallette district.

The girl told them that one of the two Roma men raped her. In the wake of this outrage, dozens of people in Turin organized a candlelight vigil in support of the girl, an event that quickly turned into a racist demonstration. The demonstrators' anger soon turned into ethnic hatred and they decided to take action. The racist crowd made its way to the Roma camp situated near Cascina Continassa, where they broke in with iron bars and set fire to the huts, cars and caravans. The demonstrators then deliberately hindered the fire fighters' attempts to extinguish the flames.

Last night, however, the young woman admitted she had been lying and she had not been raped at all. The authorities have not identified or brought charges against the racists who destroyed the Roma settlement.

December 11th, 2011