Rome's mayor expresses solidarity with city's Jewish community

Police in Rome are investigating a spate of anti-semitic graffiti that has appeared on shopfronts and walls around the capital in recent days.

The latest messages – removed from walls in the Prati district on 30 July – read "Giudei la vostra fine è vicina" (Jews your end is near) and "Fuoco alle Sinagoghe" (Burn the synagogues).

On previous nights dozens of swastikas, slogans such as "Anna Frank cantastorie" (Anne Frank storyteller) and pro-Palestinian posters by a neo-nazi group reading "Stesso nemico, stessa barricata" (Same enemy, same barricade) appeared on Via Cola di Rienzo and Via Ottaviano in Prati and Via Appia Nuova in S. Giovanni.

The anti-semitic graffiti has been widely condemned by Jewish leaders and local and state officials. Rome's mayor Ignazio Marino described the affair as "a disgrace and an insult to all Romans.” He expressed solidarity with the city's Jewish community, saying “Rome wants and must be the capital of dialogue and peace, and not the land of barbarity.”

The vandalism in Rome follows reports of anti-semitic attacks and protests in other European capitals such as Berlin and Paris over Israel's ongoing military operation in Gaza.

Photos: Corriere della Sera