Roma families moved from Italian housing project after violent neo-fascist protests

Far-right protesters screamed insults and threw objects at van as families, including 33 children, moved for safety

People gather in Rome's Torre Maura suburb during a protest against Roma people arriving at a government-run centre on 3 April 2019; (EPA)

Several Roma families have been forced out of a social housing project in Rome after violent protests by neo-fascist groups.

Far-right protesters screamed insults and threw objects at a van as the families, including 33 children, were removed from Torre Maura, an eastern suburb of the Italian capital, late on Wednesday.

Some did a raised arm fascist gesture, associated with Hitler, and sang the Italian national anthem. Neighbours also reportedly turned out to applaud the families’ departure.

Video footage also showed dozens of people setting up barricades on Tuesday to prevent the families from reaching the housing at a government-run centre, as well as a woman stomping on a tray of sandwiches set up for the new arrivals.

Rome’s mayor Virginia Raggi vowed there would be an investigation into possible inciting racial hatred against the organisers of the protest.

She said there was a “very heavy climate of hatred” during the protest allegedly incited by far-right groups Casa Pound and Forza Nuova against the arrival of the Roma families at the low-income neighbourhood on the outskirts of Rome.

She added that the families were being placed elsewhere in the meantime.

One elderly resident who spoke on Sky TG24 without giving his name said "it would be better to spread the Roma people out rather than concentrate them in one area."

Another accused them of carrying out robberies, without providing evidence.

Many in Italy’s sizeable Roma community, also known as Gypsies, are Italian citizens but they still frequently face hostility if not outright discrimination.

Interior minister Matteo Salvini has called for a census of Italy’s Roma population and police closed a Roma camp in the capital last June in defiance of an EU ruling.

Mr Salvini on Wednesday pledged that all Roma camps would be closed by the end of his mandate as minister.

He rejected violence but at the same time criticised city officials for pushing the Roma to the city’s periphery.

Associated Press contributed to this report