Last month the Italian government declared a national state of emergency in reaction to a sharp rise in illegal immigration. Earlier it had unveiled a plan to fingerprint members of the Gypsy community, including children, and to carry out a census in camps for illegal migrants. The interior minister declared that “nomads” who were not Italian citizens and did not meet the conditions to stay in the country would be deported.

On top of such measures, the government of Silvio Berlusconi has deployed 3,000 armed and uniformed soldiers on the streets of nine main cities in order to provide greater “public security”. That is the most visible part of a law-and-order package introduced by the centre-right government to reassure Italian citizens that it is tackling a wave of street crime largely attributed to foreigners.