Controversy has broken out in Italy after the town of Calolziocorte, with nearly 14,000 residents in the province of Lecco, approved a regulatory plan that bans migrant reception centers from being located in certain "red areas" considered "sensitive", such as near stations and schools.
The city council of Calolziocorte, a town of just under 14,000 residents located in the province of Lecco, has issued a regulatory plan on migrant reception centers, which was approved by a majority. Reception centres for asylum seekers are not permitted to be built in areas defined as "red", that is, near the station or schools. To locate the centers in "blue" areas, defined as near churches or libraries, the town must issue a permit.
Local and national controversy
The plan immediately set off controversy both on a local and national level, with Democratic Party (PD) senators calling for an emergency inquiry. The center-right mayor of Calolziocorte, Marco Ghezzi, called the document "a government plan to locate migrant reception structures". "We determined the most sensitive areas in the town, those in which this type of environment could be a source of hardship, such as the train station, which is already a focus of security problems. Building a center in this context could aggravate the situation," Ghezzi said.
The text approved by the council, following various stages in committee, was modified in minimum distances: 150 meters, no longer between 250-300 meters as in the first draft. "The objective isn't to impede the opening of centers in the territory, but regulate them, to guarantee true integration for the guests, also protecting the residents," Ghezzi said.
'Red zones are a disgrace'
PD Senate Whip Andrea Marcucci wrote on Twitter: "League mayors aren't sheriffs. The red zones banning migrants in Calolziocorte are a disgrace. The prefect should intervene immediately to impede any type of apartheid". PD Senator Eugenio Comincini called it "a shameful ghettoization". Minority councilors in Calolziocorte protested in vain against the plan. Sonia Mazzoleni (Citizens United) called it "propaganda" and said she hoped it wouldn't "trigger social mechanisms with insults and heavy offenses online."
Diego Colosimo (Change Calolzio) said it was a measure "with big doubts of legality in which migrants are compared to slot machines: they have the same social danger, according to this text. It's a strongly discriminatory concept. The risk of succumbing, in the event of eventual appeals to the regional administrative court, is very high," he said.