ROMEPremier Enrico Letta has harshly criticized a top Italian senator who likened the countrys first black cabinet minister to an orangutan, the latest episode of high-profile racial tension in a nation grappling with immigration.
In a statement Sunday, Letta denounced Roberto Calderolis words as unacceptable and beyond every limit.
Calderoli, the Senates vice-president and a leader of the anti-immigrant Northern League party, made denigrating remarks about Immigration Minister Cecile Kyenge while he was speaking at a party rally Saturday in northern Italy, the populist movements power base.
When I see images of Kyenge I cannot help think, even if I dont say that she is one, of a resemblance to an orangutan, Corriere della Sera newspaper quoted Calderoli as saying. On Sunday, Calderoli said he was making a joke, and meant no offence to the minister.
Kyenge is a Congolese-born doctor who became Italys first black minister when Lettas cabinet was sworn in in April. Reactions to her appointment have added to political tensions in Italy this summer, and Lettas coalition government, which faces economic and other pressures, is extremely fragile.
Calderoli told the rally that Kyenge has done well to become a minister, but perhaps she should do it in her own country.
The Northern League isnt in the government but has long been the closest political ally of former premier Silvio Berlusconis centre-right party, which is Lettas main partner in the coalition government. Calderolis remarks sparked calls for him to resign, including from Public Administration Minister Gianpiero DAlia.
DAlia, a centrist, told Sky TG24 that Calderolis comments recalled the language of the Ku Klux Klan.
Kyenge said politicians should take the occasion to reflect on what kind of debate they want . . . about content or about insults.
Last month, Kyenge, who has lived in Italy since 1983, received death threats before she visited the northern region that is Calderolis party base. The xenophobic Northern League expelled a local politician after she suggested on Facebook that someone should rape Kyenge so she can understand what victims of atrocious crimes feel. The Leagues leaders blame immigrants for violent crime in Italy.
In May, Mario Borghezio, a European parliamentarian for the Northern League, warned in a radio interview that Kyenge would try to impose tribal traditions on Italy.
Northern League secretary Matteo Salvini said Calderolis orangutan remark was a shocking wisecrack, an out-of-line comment.
