EU Blasts Italy Over Gypsy Fingerprinting

Measure against ethnic minority decried as racist

(NEWSER) - Italy has begun taking fingerprints from members of its Gypsy minority, in what the government calls a “census” of the people living in nomad encampments. The plans to document adults and children lacking an EU passport has brought condemnations from critics, who charge that “census” is the Berlusconi government’s euphemism for a racist practice, the BBC reports. More»

Over-the-top shindigs fuel prejudice, say critics

(NEWSER) - The new Big Fat Gypsy Weddings reality series in Britain is infuriating members of the traveler community who charge that the over-the-top shindigs have very little to do with them and are fueling prejudice. The Irish Traveler Movement has demanded a "right of reply" to the Channel 4 program, which recently featured a bride and her 200-pound wedding dress with Christmas lights and mechanical butterflies, and 6-year-old kids sporting spray tans. "The show’s a bad thing," said the president of the Gypsy Council. "There are some weddings like these, but there are also plenty of normal ones.” More»

One camp razed this week

(NEWSER) - Rome's right-wing mayor has followed France's lead and renewed a crackdown on gypsy camps around the city. One camp was razed this week, and officials said some 20 people have accepted an offer of voluntary repatriation, though many more fled before the bulldozers arrived, the Telegraph reports. More»

(NEWSER) - Silvio Berlusconi's antics with models and call girls have threatened to derail his government, but the woman at the center of the sex-and-corruption scandal says she's seen it all before. "This is how Italy always works," Patrizia D’Addario tells the Financial Times. The hooker says she came forward to protect herself and recounts how her house was robbed by burglars who stole her underwear and photos from the PM. More»