PRIGIONE A CIELO APERTO
Niki and his family are Romanian citizens. They�ve been living in Milan since 1995. In 2007, allowed by Milan�s City Hall, they moved to two containers in the �nomad camp� in via Triboniano, right by the Maggiore Cemetery.
Since January of the same year, life in the camp has been regulated by a decree issued by the prefect of Milan - named �superintendent to the vagrant emergency in Lombardy�- which envisages the expulsion of the entire family from the container in the case of any member committing a crime, no matter what it is. A crackdown with immediate effect. That�s why one of Niki�s sons, for a few euros� theft in a supermarket, has to spend five months in jail and 20 months later all the members of his family living in the same container � including two pregnant women and two children - are forced to immediately leave their home. The youngest child was sent back to live in Romania with relatives, and the others live in six in a small camper-van donated to them by an Italian doctor. The decree also denies them a place in another camp, and they fear the camper could be taken away anytime by the police overlooking via Triboniano. Lacking any source of heating but each other�s bodies, the winter cold gets harsher every night and their lives are tormented by the thought they might never get to see another day.
Niki�s case is nothing but the tip of the iceberg, though. The clearings policy implemented by Moratti�s council � against all the efforts of voluntary associations operating in Milan - not only doesn�t work against criminality in the camps, but it also worsens the condition for the whole Roma population, including women and children, as it doesn�t offer a real alternative. Roma families suffer and find shelter elsewhere. They move, but still exist, in spite of those who wish to see them disappear from the face of the city.
