Italian gipsy camp burned down by vigilantes after false rape claim

Submitted by anthony on Sun, 2011-12-18 19:18

Story here. Excerpt:

'The 16-year-old reportedly made up the account to conceal the fact that she had lost her virginity to her Italian boyfriend, but the lie unleashed a chain of events that she could not have foreseen.

She went to the police near her home on the outskirts of Turin late last week to report that she had been raped.

Police officers conducted interviews with dozens of people in the area to try to find witnesses to the supposed attack, and the news of the assault quickly spread.

Up to 500 people staged a peaceful protest march on Saturday in the suburb of Le Vallette but a mob of around 50 peeled off from the rally and headed to a nearby gipsy camp.

As the Romany inhabitants fled, the vigilantes set fire to around 20 makeshift shelters and huts, creating a huge blaze. They threw stones and beat up at least one gipsy man.

The teenage girl, who has not been named, is expected to be charged with giving false evidence, along with her brother, who is alleged to have repeated her story.'

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Comments

People in the US may not be too familiar with the so-called "gipsies" (or "gypsies", and other variations). Wikipedia describes this particular kind of "gypsy" here. Sometimes the term is used to describe other semi-nomadic groups of people living in Europe or other places, among but not necessarily integrated fully with the societies they live in (this by choice or at times by social or other force). They are distinguished from other semi-detached-from-modern-life people like the Mennonites in that Mennonites (or Amish, et al.) live in permanent abodes and form permanent communities that tend to stay put geographically (ie, they build permanent structures like town halls, houses, run businesses located in offices or shops, etc.), while semi-nomadic peoples usually do not.

The thing to keep in mind though is that despite the article's use of the term "gypsy," more than a few Romanii and other people like them find it offensive. (See here.) They usually much prefer to be called by their more formal name, if they must at all be distinguished by their social grouping, in the same way no one who lives in, for example, Scotland, would appreciate being referred to as a "jock". I could use some other examples but they would probably be too offensive to even offer up (and bear in mind that being of Scottish ancestry, with a couple others mixed in, I felt it more appropriate to pull out that example than use someone else's nickname/put-down name given to them by others).

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Submitted by Matt on Sun, 2011-12-18 21:34

So, she makes up this story, lies to everyone, and causes untold damage. Her brother, on the other hand 'repeats the story' and is charged too. I guess a man is always to blame, somewhere...

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Submitted by GaryB on Mon, 2011-12-19 03:53