Reply #8: Berlusconi's conservative government scapegoats legal immigrants as a wedge issue to their advantage

[pampango]

Berlusconi's Interior minister, Roberto Maroni, is a member of the Northern League, a RW party that is very conservative on social issues and opposed to non-Christian immigration.

("The party takes a social-conservative stance on social issues, such as abortion, euthanasia, medical embryonic stem-cell research, artificial insemination, same-sex marriage. The party has a tough stance on crime, illegal immigration, especially from Muslim countries, and terrorism. It supports the promotion of immigration from non-Muslim countries in order to protect the "Christian identity" of Italy and Europe, which, according to party officials, should be based on "Judeo-Christian heritage.") http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_League_%28Italy%29

"Mr. Maroni, called the situation in Rosarno “the fruit of the wrong kind of tolerance.” The day before, he had been quoted as saying the riots were the fruit of “too much tolerance.”

A member of the powerful Northern League Party, known for its anti-immigrant language, Mr. Maroni also defended a proposal introduced by his party last week to cap the number of immigrant students in public school classes at 30 percent. “Sometimes they speak different languages, and there’s no common balance in the classroom,” Mr. Maroni said."

These riots occurred in the home ground of the Northern League.