Racial Tensions in Sicily

Good Bye to il Bel Paese.

Acrireale, from Sicilianews24.it

Reading the Sicilian newspapers is a rather depressing business, as the news reports are all about drugs and violence, in which either the perpetrators or the victims are very young. The latest story, however, gives me pause, because it speaks of that thing that all British people discuss all the time, namely racism.

There are lots of migrants in Sicily: some are ‘regolari’, that is with papers, and some are ‘clandestini’ without papers, and without permission to be in the country. No one quite knows, thanks to the clandestini not declaring themselves, just how many foreigners are present, but it is a thought to be at least 5%, though it is probably much more. The official facts and figures can be found here. It should be remembered that within living memory (and indeed within my memory) there were no Asian and African people in Italy. Today whole parts of Catania and Palermo are essentially Asian and African enclaves, and indeed Arab and Muslim ones.

Anyway, to the nice little city of Acireale, province of Catania, the first town I ever stayed in in Sicily, aged about 12. Here is the story, translated and redacted for your convenience.

“The State Police intervened, a few days ago, in Piazza Duomo in Acireale, to put an end to an attack on two young foreigners aged 20 and 19 who were targeted by a small group of young men.

“The fight apparently started for trivial reasons, shortly after midnight, in retaliation for one of the two foreigners going out with a girl from Acireale, in whom one of the young attackers had shown an interest.

“Following reports, police cars from Acireale Police Station promptly arrived in Corso Umberto and rescued the two young men under attack, both of Egyptian nationality and legally in Italy. To defend himself, one of the young men was holding a metal pole, part of a temporary road sign, in an attempt to keep the attackers, about 20 people, away. The young man immediately put the pole on the ground, as soon as the police intervened to calm things down.

“The two attacked men needed medical attention at the Emergency Room of the Santa Marta and Santa Venera hospital, where one of the two was found to have a head injury, and wounds to the chest and abdomen, with a prognosis of 15 days treatment.

“In the meantime, the police reconstructed the facts and thanks to numerous witness statements collected it emerged that the attack developed in a few minutes, right in the town centre, when the group of young people from Acireale arrived from the nearby Via Davì and attacked one of the two Egyptians, who tried to run to try to escape the violence. The attackers did not give up their reckless plan and started looking for the two Egyptians, finding them in Corso Umberto. This episode seems to have followed another altercation that occurred a few days earlier, between a boy from the group and one of the two young men attacked, who was accused of having started a relationship with a girl. On that occasion, strong words were exchanged and threats were made.

“Within a few hours, the police arrested 4 young men from Acireale, two 20-year-olds, a 19-year-old and a 21-year-old, who were identified as being part of the group of attackers and, for this reason, reported to the Judicial Authority for the crimes of ABH and illegal possession of weapons, without prejudice to the presumption of innocence of the suspects valid now and until a final conviction.

“Investigators are examining the images recorded by the video surveillance systems in the area, as well as some videos recorded by some people present with their smartphones to identify the other people responsible for the attack.”

I am fascinated by this story, and for several reasons. It is not just that Acireale is a quiet place, where you do not expect a gang of 20 to attack two Egyptians in the town centre. It goes much further than that.

First of all, immigrants are overwhelmingly young, male and single. Boys like girls, and that means that immigrants will try to fraternise with the local girls. But that introduces an element of competition with the local lads, does it not? And these local lads did not like it one bit, and organised themselves accordingly. That is worrying. Just as we had a gang from lo Zen of Palermo riding up to Monreale and shooting three people dead, this event in Acireale could have turned very nasty indeed. Personal differences over a girl can develop into full blown gang warfare.

Secondly there is the whole question of how young women are viewed. Sicily is perhaps not the most feminist of places, as this story suggests. The girls ‘belong’ to the local boys, not to the foreigners, seems to be the assumption. That is a very old-fashioned view, but one suspects a common one. In addition, there is an unspoken assumption that the two Egyptians might be perceived as a threat to local womanhood. After all, women in Egypt are treated rather differently to woman in Sicily. There is no suggestion that these two young foreign men were predators, but they may have been perceived as such.

Italians, let it be said, are very tolerant people, and very welcoming ones as well. But this story reveals a different Italy, one of simmering racial tension. The Sicily of once upon a time - a place of strong family bonds and cultural ties - is no more. Forget the Bel Paese: this story from Acireale reminds me of things we read about in Britain.