Fatal Accident in Milan Sparks Hate Speech and Nationwide Eviction Plan against Roma by the Italian Far-Right
06 October 2025
By Judit Ignacz
On August 11, 2025, a tragic accident occurred in the Gratosoglio district of Milan when a stolen car struck and killed a 71-year-old woman. Reports indicate that four Romani children were in the vehicle, with a 13-year-old boy at the wheel.
What should have been a moment for mourning the victim and reflection on urgent questions of child protection, systemic neglect, and social exclusion became a platform for racists and fascist remarks, incitement of hatred, and a call to evict Romani settlements across Italy. Politicians from the Lega and other right-wing parties have turned the accident into a weapon, snatching the opportunity to vilify and stigmatize Romani communities and making the entire ethnic minority the centre of hatred.
About the Incident
On August 11, 2025, a tragic accident occurred in the Gratosoglio district of Milan when a stolen Citroën DS4 struck and killed 71-year-old Cecilia De Astis as she crossed the street at a pedestrian crossing. Four Romani children, aged between 11 and 13, were in the car at the time. After the accident, the four children fled, but the police traced and located three of them. The case has been referred to the Juvenile Prosecutor’s Office, as the minors are not criminally liable under Italian law. On August 16, the Juvenile Court of Milan placed the three minors in separate protective communities. The children admitted to stealing the car and fleeing after the accident before the investigating judge. In their statements, they said: “We ran away because we were scared.”
Minors in conflict with the law require protection and rehabilitation, not collective punishment of their families and communities. In this case, they were placed under state protection. However, the media coverage quickly framed them as criminals, with little to no attention paid to structural failures of the Italian government, such as discriminatory housing policies, lack of access to education, and decades of neglect in complying with obligatory international human rights standards and inclusion strategies.
Hate Speech from Politicians
Following the incidents, racist rhetoric from Italian politicians emerged and spread rapidly, dehumanising Romani people, legitimising hatred, and echoing a fascist logic of collective punishment instead of upholding justice and accountability.
Among the first to call for an ethnic reckoning was Deputy Prime Minister and Lega leader Matteo Salvini, who wasted no time in turning grief into outrage. He demanded the demolition of Romani camps, the arrest of parents, and the revocation of their parental rights: “She was run over and killed by a stolen car, reportedly driven by Romani minors. If confirmed, it would be outrageous. The Roma camp must be cleared immediately and razed to the ground. After years of thefts and violence, these so-called ‘parents’ must be arrested and stripped of custody. Mayor Sala and the left, where are you?”
Milan’s Mayor Giuseppe Sala replied shortly with a defence of the left’s apparent credentials for evicting Romani communities: “I find it shameful to speculate on the death of a person in such terrible circumstances, especially by senior government officials. The City of Milan has for years pursued a policy of dismantling Romani camps. Between 2013 and 2024, left-wing administrations closed 24 (4 authorised and 20 unauthorised). In comparison, right-wing administrations closed only one during their time in office.”
“The Roma are parasites of our society.” These were the words of Emanuele Licopodio, a Lega city councillor in Rome, in a social media video where he called on the Meloni government to evict the camp in Via Salone. The reaction came immediately as well. The Associazione 21 Luglio, a rights defender group that supports individuals living in extreme segregation and discrimination, filed a complaint with the Public Prosecutor's Office against the Lega representative for incitement to racial hatred. The association also announced joining the case as a civil party together with residents of the settlement in Via Salone.
Maurizio Politi, Lega councillor of Rome Capital, and Angelo Valeriani, provincial secretary of Lega Roma, reacted to the complaint: “Despite the tens of millions of euros spent over the years, conditions of illegality and total disregard for the rules of civil life persist. Associations that claim to be committed to integration should focus on what is truly the cornerstone of a healthy, integrated future: education, respect for rules, and legality.”
The Lega representatives appear to have forgotten the fact that ensuring children can attend school, live in safe housing conditions, and participate fully in society is a fundamental duty of the government. The country itself is legally obliged to guarantee access to education and other essential services, rather than shifting its responsibility and accountability onto civic society and non-governmental organisations.
General Roberto Vannacci, Lega MEP, further fuelled the fire in an interview with Affari Italiani: “Roma camps, in almost all cases, are strongholds of illegality, impunity, arrogance, and crime, where children grow up in degradation, without rules and without education. A certain progressive political faction has always tolerated and defended them in the name of integration, hospitality, and human rights, following its usual justifying stance that sides with criminals rather than honest citizens. The same left, in its politically correct drift, banned the word zingaro (‘gypsy’), a term historically associated with begging, theft, robbery, and evil superstition, and imposed the word Roma, trying to link it to the perception of a valuable culture or even a romantic nomadic lifestyle.”
National Plan to Evict Romani Settlements
Using the accident as a pretext, the reaction of the Lega and Fratelli d’Italia is to push for a nationwide plan to dismantle unauthorised Romani settlements, particularly in Lombardy.
The Interior Minister, Matteo Piantedosi, is preparing to map and close the remaining camps. During a parliamentary session in September, he openly celebrated that his government had “reduced” the number of Romani people in Italy by 3,000 since taking office. He framed this as progress in “restoring legality,” presenting the eviction of settlements as evidence of success: "With this government, there will be fewer Roma in Italy. Since this government has been in office, the estimate of these presences has dropped from around 16,000 people to just over 13,000."
He also added, it is necessary to continue along this path: "It is a matter of continuing and intensifying institutional action aimed at overcoming the remaining settlements, creating concrete and lasting alternatives to restore legality and fight against degradation and marginalization."
The Victorious Far-Right and Rise of Neo-fascism
Rhetoric celebrating the numeric reduction of a people on a territory is an alarming lurch towards ethnic cleansing that reflects a continuation of fascist and racist ideologies, treating a minority population as a problem to be “reduced” rather than as citizens with rights, protections, and human dignity.
Behind this narrative and policies hide the reality of countless forced evictions in Italy, pushing Romani communities even further to the margins. Between 2017 and 2021, Italian authorities evicted Roma from their communities at least 187 times, affecting over 3,100 people. These evictions often happened without consultation, legal orders, or alternative housing and led to homelessness or unstable housing.
The hostility goes beyond policies and turns into violent actions. In 2019, a mob of around 300 far-right ‘activists’ and neo-fascist groups gathered in the Torre Maura suburb of Rome, chanting “Those bastards must burn,” and set fire to dumpsters and a car service centre to prevent the placement of 70 Romani people in a local reception centre. According to la Repubblica, 33 children and 22 women were affected. Rather than protecting Romani families, the municipality bowed to violent pressure and announced the relocation of the group to other facilities within seven days.
Although the European Committee of Social Rights (ECSR) repeated its concerns several times about widespread racist propaganda targeting Roma and Sinti, Italy has a long history of anti-Roma hatred, which remains very much alive today. Recent events show the ongoing reality of hate speech, racially aggravated crimes, mob violence, racist propaganda, violent attacks, and discriminatory state policies on the rise.
When politicians incite hatred and spread hate speech against Roma, they normalise racism and exclusion and undermine the rule of law and the state’s obligation and accountability to uphold fundamental human rights. The fatal accident in Milan has become another political tool that is being used to fuel hatred and justify coercive policies. Politicians such as Matteo Salvini legitimise far-right interventions and racist narratives, which contribute to the rising power of neo-fascism in Italy and Europe today. Given that, in January 2025, the Italian fascist movements held their annual rally in Rome to show transnational solidarity among extremist groups. The event drew participants from fascist and neo-Nazi groups in France, Hungary, and Sweden, showing a broader European coordination of far-right movements.
For those who fail to open their eyes to the existential far-right threat facing Europe today, the Milan incident and broad political response should serve as a wakeup call. Fascism is not ‘on the rise’ in Europe, it’s already occupying the halls of power in Italy and is gearing up for a new all out attack on Roma Rights.
