Noose protest against Italy’s first black minister Cecile Kyenge

Italy police on Monday were investigating farright militants suspected of hanging nooses to protest Italy’s first black minister Cecile Kyenge, two days after a senator compared her to an orangutan.The nooses appeared on lampposts with posters signed by far-right group Forza Nuova in the city of Pescara, where the minister for integration was visiting for a conference on immigration and citizenship. ‘Immigration, the noose of the people!’ read one of the slogans on the posters. Another said: ‘Everyone should live in their own country’. 

Kyenge, who is of Congolese origin, has called for a reform of Italian law to make it easier for children born to immigrant parents to acquire citizenship. Prime minister Enrico Letta called for an end to the insults against Kyenge, saying this was a ‘shameful chapter’ for Italy and could lead to a ‘major clash’. Ever since being named to the cabinet in April, Kyenge has faced a barrage of abuse, particularly from members of the anti-immigration Northern League party. 

One local party activist even said the minister should be raped in a vicious Facebook rant about crimes committed by immigrants. On Saturday, senator Roberto Calderoli had said, ‘When I see pictures of Kyenge, I cannot help thinking of similarities with an orangutan’.