Rome - Three Roma
sisters burned to death in an arson attack on their camper van in the outskirts
of the capital on Wednesday, sparking an outpouring of grief in Ital.The girls,
aged four, eight and 20, were sleeping with their parents and eight other
siblings when the van went up in flames.Images from a surveillance camera show
a man throwing a bottle against the vehicle before the blaze, investigators
said.It was not immediately clear if it was a xenophobic act or someone from
another traveller family settling a score. Surviving family members had reported
being threatened by locals in recent days, according to media reports.
The
pro-Roma group Associazione 21 Luglio, which regularly condemns discrimination
and violence against Roma and Sinti in Italy - including repeated cases of
local residents attacking camps with Molotov cocktails - expressed
"pain" at the deaths.President Sergio Mattarella denounced the "horrible
crime", echoing Rome mayor Virginia Raggi's sorrow and Pope Francis sent
his chaplain to comfort the bereaved family and bring them "concrete
assistance", the Vatican said.Although over half of the 170 000 or so Roma
and Sinti people in Italy are Italian citizens with regular jobs and houses,
hate crimes against the poorest strata are rife.
The intolerance is fuelled by inflammatory comments by politicians
on both the left and right quick to paint Roma as crooks.