Chinese tourists face racist abuse in Italy
Wanted in Milan13 Feb, 2020
There are increasing cases across Italy of Chinese people being the target of racist and xenophobic insults due to the Coronavirus outbreak.
Milan
Serie A football club AC Milan invited a 13-year-old Milanese boy of Chinese origins to S. Siro stadium after he was insulted racially by an opponent while playing football with his team Cesano Boscone, being told: "I hope you get Coronavirus like in the markets in China." The boy's team denounced the episode on social media and when news reached AC Milan the club wasted little time in inviting its young fan to S. Siro on 11 February. "It was the best day of my life," the boy said in a video posted by AC Milan.
Rome
A group of teenagers insulted and threatened five Chinese tourists in Rome on the afternoon of 9 February. "Get out of Italy because you are infected with the Coronavirus", the three shouted at the Chinese tourists - four men and a woman - at Piazza dei Consoli in the Tuscolana area. Police intervened on the spot, detaining one of the youths who had threatened the tourists with a broken glass bottle. There were no injuries but the Chinese woman, who is pregnant, was taken to hospital for checks after the frightening incident. The tourists decided not to press charges.
Siena
"Put on a mask" and "Get her out of here, she'll infect us". This was how a Hong Kong-based Italian businessman and his Chinese-born girlfriend were greeted by a group of men at the bar of a restaurant in Siena. The incident, which took place on 8 February, was denounced in an open letter to Siena's mayor Luigi De Mossi in La Nazione newspaper which decried the "many ignorant phrases" hurled at the couple by the Italian men in their forties.
Cagliari
"You have Coronavirus". A Filipino man was insulted racially and punched in the face on a bus in Cagliari after three young aggressors mistook him for being Chinese. The victim, a 31-year-old waiter, was hospitalised after the 6 February incident, while his attackers fled the scene.
Venice
One of the first episodes of racism in Italy stemming from the Coronavirus outbreak was reported in Venice on 30 January when a Chinese couple were insulted and spat upon by a group of teenagers.
Coronavirus in Rome
Rome's Spallanzani hospital discharged 20 Chinese tourists who have tested negative for the Coronavirus, on the morning of 13 February. The tourists had been part of the same tour group as the Chinese couple who became Italy's first confirmed cases of Coronavirus and remain in intensive care in Rome. However doctors say that the couple, a husband and wife in their 60s, are showing signs of a slight improvement.
Political solidarity
Italy's president Sergio Mattarella recently visited a primary school with a large Chinese population in the Esquilino area of Rome, in a show of solidarity with the capital's Chinese residents who are complaining of a drastic fall-off in business at their shops and businesses. Rome mayor Virginia Raggi also paid a visit to a Chinese restaurant in the Esquilino quarter - known as the capital's Chinatown - while the mayor of Florence Dario Nardella recently posted a video of himself hugging a group of Italo-Chinese residents of the Tuscan city.
Tourism
The sudden drop-off of Chinese tourists is having a drastic effect on Italy's hospitality and retail sector, since Italy suspended flights to and from China, with Rome and the Lazio region reportedly losing an estimated €1.2 million a day. The Lazio region welcomed 1.3 million Chinese tourists in 2019 - mainly to Rome - representing six per cent of the total of last year's foreign tourists.
Global epidemic
The Coronavirus, declared a global emergency by the World Health Organization, has claimed around 1,350 lives since the disease broke out in central China in late December.
Photo Il Gazzettino
Wanted in Milan13 Feb, 2020
There are increasing cases across Italy of Chinese people being the target of racist and xenophobic insults due to the Coronavirus outbreak.
Milan
Serie A football club AC Milan invited a 13-year-old Milanese boy of Chinese origins to S. Siro stadium after he was insulted racially by an opponent while playing football with his team Cesano Boscone, being told: "I hope you get Coronavirus like in the markets in China." The boy's team denounced the episode on social media and when news reached AC Milan the club wasted little time in inviting its young fan to S. Siro on 11 February. "It was the best day of my life," the boy said in a video posted by AC Milan.
Rome
A group of teenagers insulted and threatened five Chinese tourists in Rome on the afternoon of 9 February. "Get out of Italy because you are infected with the Coronavirus", the three shouted at the Chinese tourists - four men and a woman - at Piazza dei Consoli in the Tuscolana area. Police intervened on the spot, detaining one of the youths who had threatened the tourists with a broken glass bottle. There were no injuries but the Chinese woman, who is pregnant, was taken to hospital for checks after the frightening incident. The tourists decided not to press charges.
Siena
"Put on a mask" and "Get her out of here, she'll infect us". This was how a Hong Kong-based Italian businessman and his Chinese-born girlfriend were greeted by a group of men at the bar of a restaurant in Siena. The incident, which took place on 8 February, was denounced in an open letter to Siena's mayor Luigi De Mossi in La Nazione newspaper which decried the "many ignorant phrases" hurled at the couple by the Italian men in their forties.
Cagliari
"You have Coronavirus". A Filipino man was insulted racially and punched in the face on a bus in Cagliari after three young aggressors mistook him for being Chinese. The victim, a 31-year-old waiter, was hospitalised after the 6 February incident, while his attackers fled the scene.
Venice
One of the first episodes of racism in Italy stemming from the Coronavirus outbreak was reported in Venice on 30 January when a Chinese couple were insulted and spat upon by a group of teenagers.
Coronavirus in Rome
Rome's Spallanzani hospital discharged 20 Chinese tourists who have tested negative for the Coronavirus, on the morning of 13 February. The tourists had been part of the same tour group as the Chinese couple who became Italy's first confirmed cases of Coronavirus and remain in intensive care in Rome. However doctors say that the couple, a husband and wife in their 60s, are showing signs of a slight improvement.
Political solidarity
Italy's president Sergio Mattarella recently visited a primary school with a large Chinese population in the Esquilino area of Rome, in a show of solidarity with the capital's Chinese residents who are complaining of a drastic fall-off in business at their shops and businesses. Rome mayor Virginia Raggi also paid a visit to a Chinese restaurant in the Esquilino quarter - known as the capital's Chinatown - while the mayor of Florence Dario Nardella recently posted a video of himself hugging a group of Italo-Chinese residents of the Tuscan city.
Tourism
The sudden drop-off of Chinese tourists is having a drastic effect on Italy's hospitality and retail sector, since Italy suspended flights to and from China, with Rome and the Lazio region reportedly losing an estimated €1.2 million a day. The Lazio region welcomed 1.3 million Chinese tourists in 2019 - mainly to Rome - representing six per cent of the total of last year's foreign tourists.
Global epidemic
The Coronavirus, declared a global emergency by the World Health Organization, has claimed around 1,350 lives since the disease broke out in central China in late December.
Photo Il Gazzettino
