EU Blasts Italy Over Gypsy Fingerprinting

Proposal to fight crime is racist and must stop, parliament says
By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 10, 2008 1:00 PM CDT
EU Blasts Italy Over Gypsy Fingerprinting
European Commissioner for Employment, Social affairs and Equal opportunities Vladimir Spidla addresses the European Parliament about the situation of gypsies in Italy in Strasbourg eastern France.   (AP Photo/Cedric Joubert)

Italy’s mandatory fingerprinting of its Gypsy minority is "an act of discrimination based on race and ethnic origin" and should be stopped, the European Parliament said in a resolution passed today. The assembly voted 336-220, with 77 abstentions, to condemn the practice—though the resolution is not binding, the AP notes. Italy continues to defend the program as a necessary measure to fight street crime. (More Italy stories.)

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