By Prensa Latina,
Rome : The Italian police arrested 383 people Thursday, 268 of them foreigners, as part of a raid from the north down to the southern city of Naples, in the application of promises by the new Italian government.
The cabinet of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, in his third occasion as Prime Minister since 1994, announced a hard-hand policy with illegal immigrants, 53 of which were immediately deported to their respective original countries Thursday.
The new Italian center-rightwing administration including xenophobic North League (LN) scheduled new regulations to investigate illegal immigrants, arrest and deport all those who violate the law.
Most of the foreign people arrested in the raid, coming from Eastern Europe, Albany, Greece, north of Africa and China, were accused of several crimes, including drug trafficking, prostitution and robbery.
Local press media warned on the exclusion actions because of the immigration policy, promoted by LN, especially against nomads coming from Romania.
The agents raided the biggest gypsy camp in Rome Thursday and arrested 50 people, mainly men.
This week, the authorities had to evacuate gypsy camps in Naples, after local settlers burned down several of their dwellings, because of rumors on the robbery of babies.
A package of laws was promoted by Berlusconi´s Interior Minister and LN second man, Roberto Maroni, was the object of hard criticism by Bucharest.