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It's Sunday in Rome. And like any other Sunday, behind the Coliseum
a "Little Quito" comes to life. Colle Oppio has been the meeting place
of the Latin American community since the beginning of the 1990s,
when the first immigration influx arrived in Rome from South America.
After several years of pick-up games, an amateur soccer championship has been organized since 2004.
Everybody can play. Ecuadorians, Bolivians, Afghans,
Peruvians, Italians and refugees from other countries participate.
But soccer is only one of the activities that takes place in Colle Oppio.
Rosa Jijon is an Ecuadorian artist, and she's a reference point for many compatriots.
What I felt is the same feeling that the majority of the people
who visit Colle Oppio feel. I said to myself,
ìI can't believe that the same park that I had in my city --
with the same smells, the same people, the same language, the same objects,
the same dynamics -- has been recreated in Rome."
But soon, everything could change. According to many observers,
the attitude regarding immigrants is getting worse in Italy.
Since a few months ago, being illegal is not an administrative
misdemeanor anymore, but a crime. In the government coalition,
there's a xenophobic and conservative party,
the Lega Nord, that got 3 million votes in the last general elections.
If there's an economic crisis,
it's the immigrants' fault. If there's crime, it's the immigrants' fault.
If there is a lack of security, it's the immigrants' fault.
It's always necessary to find a culprit. The more you send this message,
the tougher it gets for an immigrant. Obviously, they have fear.
If they see a policeman, they run away. People feel this fear.
It's a discomfort that affects everyday life.
Rome is less multi-ethnic compared with other European capital cities
and even compared with Milan, the second-most important Italian city.
Filipinos and Latin Americans, the first immigrants to arrive in Rome,
have been outnumbered in the last few years by Poles and,
above all, Romanians -- the biggest community nationwide.
The presence of Chinese immigrants is increasing as well, above all in concentrated areas in downtown districts
in Rome and Milan. Albanian and Moroccan communities
are among the most numerous in Italy as well.
Francesco Pompeo teaches anthropology at the university of "Roma Tre."
Every year, the professor writes a report about immigration in Rome.
Racism has increased in Rome. During the past few years, we have seen
aggressions even at the bus stop. So we have a mood change in the city.
This is more evident with more recent immigrants --
mainly Romanian and Asian -- but this is also true for communities
like Latin Americans, who we thought would be treated better.
Latin Americans expected a better welcome
and this has led to a sense of disappointment.
There is a special relationship with the Latin American world --
a cultural similarity. For this reason, people who come from these countries
would expect to be treated better.
Pablo Hernandez is the former president of an Ecuadorian
citizens' association. Now he collaborates with the municipality of Rome.
Everyday, his countrymen ask him for help with issues
related to immigration. Hernandez knows well the concerns of his people.
We are experiencing a regression of what we gained in the last few years.
Our children born in Italy don't have a reference point,
because Italian law doesn't protect them enough.
So they don't feel like citizens of the country in which they were born.
This is a great personal worry for me. I hope that what happened in France
will not happen here -- where second-generation
children grew up without a sense of belonging.
Italy has a very restrictive legislation to become a citizen.
It is bound to the right of blood [the citizenship of your parents].
According to the current law, these people, who feel Italian,
once they turn 18, should go back to their parents' country of origin.
Then they need to return to Italy through the very complicated mechanism
of immigration flows, which, almost certainly,
would exclude them. In this sense, there is not a serious public
policy for second generations.
In the meantime, in Colle Oppio the soccer championship continues.
People continue cheering on the players, and families have lunch together
while they talk about the troubles of the past week.
But they all fear that this could all come to an end.