Italy expels Romanians, condemns attack

By Phil Stewart

ROME (Reuters) - Authorities tore down a gypsy camp and expelled around 20 Romanians from Italy on Saturday while condemning a "racist" attack in Rome apparently triggered by this week's murder of an Italian naval officer's wife.

Masked assailants brandishing knives, clubs and canes stabbed and beat four Romanians outside a Rome supermarket late on Friday. One of the victims is in serious condition.

The attack partly overshadowed the Rome funeral on Saturday for Giovanna Reggiani, 47, who police believe was fatally wounded by a Romanian man as she exited a Rome train station.

"We're looking for justice -- severe, austere -- but not intolerance," chaplain Patrizio Benvenuti said at Reggiani's funeral service, according to Italian media.

Reggiani's death was a tipping point in Italy and prompted authorities to level the Rome gypsy camp where the Romanian suspect lived, a job they finished on Saturday.

It also prompted them to start expelling Romanians deemed to be dangerous. Seventeen expulsion orders were signed in the city of Genoa and three others in Rome on Saturday, local media said.

The tragedy has also sparked a war of words over centre-left Prime Minister Romano Prodi's immigration policy and, officials fear, raised the threat of racist violence.

"We must prevent this terrible tiger, which is xenophobic rage, the racist beast, from getting out of control," Interior Minister Giuliano Amato told La Repubblica newspaper.