A clash in Milan last week between Chinese immigrants and the police continued to spark reactions on Monday, with Italy's anti-Mob chief denouncing allegedly high levels of crime in the Chinese community.
National anti-Mafia prosecutor Piero Grasso told reporters: "We know that Chinese communities are crime prone although it would be wrong to criminalise the entire group".
Grasso highlighted the presence of Chinese triads, secretive criminal brotherhoods which have long dominated the underworld of Chinese communities around the globe.
"Chinese triads are very powerful. They link up with other organised crime groups and commit transnational crimes," he said.
The Chinese community in Italy has been under the spotlight since last Thursday, when Chinese immigrants living in Milan's small Chinatown clashed with riot police over a crackdown on commercial traffic in the area.
At least 25 police officers and more than a dozen Chinese were injured.
Bottles were thrown at baton-wielding police and two police cars were badly damaged as hundreds of Chinese residents took to the streets in the area around Via Paolo Sarpi and Via Bramante, the heart of Milan's Chinatown.
The demonstrators waved Chinese flags and held up banners accusing police of targeting their community in a protest that was sparked by the fining of a Chinese female shopkeeper who had used her car to transport merchandise.
The protest made international headlines, with the Chinese government subsequently urging the authorities in Milan to "take into account the reasonable needs and legal interests of Chinese residents abroad".
Milan Mayor Letizia Moratti said on Monday that "this is a problem which concerns Milan, the Chinese community and respect for the law. It is not a national or international political issue".
But representatives of the Chinese community said it was planning a sit-in in front of the city hall on Thursday.
They said the immigrants were seeking authorisation from the council and they hoped that Chinese residents from elsewhere in the country would take part in the protest, the first of its kind by the Chinese community in Italy.
Milan's 13,000-strong Chinese community accuses the authorities of hounding them over the past two months, imposing fines and inspections on shopkeepers for breaching road and trading regulations and confiscating their goods trolleys, which are banned for transporting merchandise.
The council is attempting to force the Chinese to abide by laws governing the hours in which merchandise can be delivered and change the methods by which goods are shifted from vehicles to shops to prevent public obstructions.
Italians living in the neighbourhood have been complaining for more than a year that the pavements and streets are always clogged with vans and trollies.
They want the dozens of wholesale clothing and footwear stores filling the area to be moved elsewhere.
But the Chinese say the clampdown has come out of the blue and that Italians and other foreign communities are not being subjected to the same treatment.
CHINESE AMBASSADOR SPEAKS OUT.
The Chinese ambassador to Italy, Dong Jinyi, said in a press interview published Sunday that the Chinese community had to respect the rules but argued that the current norms made their working lives impossible.
"One has to take into account the reality of the neighbourhood (Chinatown). There's a problem with trollies and vans there. In other neighbourhoods, maybe there are other problems. It doesn't make sense to have the same rules for all of them and neither does it make sense to impose the law in only some of them," he told Corriere della Sera.
Dong warned Milan not to adopt rules that "limits the community's activities" or rules aimed at "kicking them out".
"If it does, it will be a problem for the Italian government which at the moment welcomes Chinese investments and Chinese businesses that want to come here," he said.
The interview raised the hackles of several politicians.
UDEUR House Whip Mauro Fabris, whose party is one of nine in the centre-left government, said on Monday that "we are for toleration and integration but we cannot accept the idea of special rules for foreign citizens and even less the idea that their government could expect such a thing".
Members of the opposition went further. Former minister Maurizio Gasparri, a top member of the rightist National Alliance, said the ambassador's words were "unbelievable".
"Italy has been too lenient towards Chinese immigrants... We demand inspections to see whether their numerous restaurants and shops are paying their taxes and respecting hygiene norms and children's rights," he said.
The devolutionist Northern League - which is frequently accused of being anti-immigrant - said it would go ahead with a rally in Milan's Chinatown on Monday evening in support of the area's Italian residents.
Matteo Salvini, a local Northern League official, said: "We do not accept lessons from a country which oppresses other nations and that's why the flag of Tibet could also be on display tonight".
Justice Minister Clemente Mastella, who heads the UDEUR, said the rally was "wrong" and "risks fuelling tensions".
"The Chinese must not be allowed to think that they are living in special areas. They are people who work hard and contribute to our country's economy. But they cannot do as they like," the minister added.
There are currently 1,900 Chinese shops and businesses operating in Milan. In Via Bramante alone, there is a Chinese store every nine metres and the number of shops is estimated to jump by 10% per year.
