Italy Jewish leader decries bakery’s discrimination against Roma

An Italian Jewish leader declared it “shameful” and “unacceptable” that a Rome bakery posted a sign barring entry to Roma, or Gypsies, and said the action recalled Holocaust-era anti-Jewish discrimination.

The “shameful sign evokes in a worrying way the darkest period of our history” Renzo Gattegna, president of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, said in a statement Thursday. “Even if this is an isolated incident, we cannot, as Italian Jews, remain silent in face of these racist gestures.”

He called it “an offense against memory and an unacceptable, irresponsible discrimination against a minority” and expressed solidarity with the Roma community.

The sign, reading “Gypsies strictly prohibited from entry,” appeared in the window of a bakery in Rome’s Tuscolano district earlier this week. It was removed after anti-racist activists took a picture and publicized it. The name and address of the bakery were not given.