White Christmas operation: the Mayor of Coccaglio "cleans" the town from irregular migrants

Alert DateNovember 18, 2009 Country: Italy Address: Coccaglio, Italy General Type: Racist discourse, Institutional discrimination Racism and discrimination phenomena: Anti-migrant/xenophobia
Groups affected / Interested in: Migrants Key socio-economic/institutional areas: Policing - law enforcement, Anti-discrimination, Anti-racism, Integration - social cohesion Hate speech/Racist Discourse Medium: Internet, TV Media, Radio, Public Discourse, Political Discourse, Newspaper

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Victims Data
Victims Nationality/Ethnic Origin N/A
Victims Gender Female, Male
Victims Age <17, 18-25, 26-35, 36-45, 46-55, 56-65
Victims Number 400
Fatalities - deaths N/A
Perpetrators Data
Perpetrators Nationality/Ethnic Origin Italian
Perpetrator Gender N/A
Perpetrator Age N/A
Perpetrators Number N/A
Extremist/Organised Group Violence No

In the small town of Coccaglio, the Northern League Mayor, ordered municipal officers to go to the houses of an estimated 400 non Italians and check their residence status and permits. The operation was called “White Christmas” as it implied a sort of ethnic cleansing before the 25th of December: all irregular migrants should leave by that date, so the town would be clean and white. Controls were carried out on the legal status of all non Italians living in Coccaglio but also on the hygienic conditions of their houses. The shocking declaration of the mayor reported by the media is “Here there is not a problem of criminality, we simply intend to start to do some cleansing”.

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