The Italian schoolchildren's drawings which illustrate a chilling hatred for Roma gypsies

The colours are bold and the lines simple, a typical drawing by a nine-year-old.

But the sentiments it reveals are shocking, a glimpse of the xenophobia creeping across Italy.

The picture is one of a number drawn by youngsters at a school outside Naples depicting firebomb attacks on a nearby Roma gipsy camp. Other children at the school exposed their hatred of the immigrants in written work.



Elementary pupils' drawings show that many children approved of the Roma gypsy camp attack

The camp was firebombed ten days ago and there have been further attacks on the now-abandoned tents and shacks.

The locals acted after a woman claimed she had caught a Roma girl trying to snatch her six-month-old baby. The allegation reveals the distrust and fear many Italians feel towards the Roma immigrants.

The pictures by youngsters at the Istituto San Giovanni Bosco, in Ponticelli on the outskirts of Naples, show the camp ablaze with bystanders saying: 'Go away Roma' and shouting: 'Fight, fight.'

Several other children had written essays in which they said: 'Burning the houses of the Roma is justified.'

Another child wrote: 'They steal babies and use them for begging or sell their organs for transplants.'



Regret: One child's drawing of the burning gypsy camp is headlined 'We were wrong'

Yet another picture, signed by a boy named Giuseppe, said: 'The people did well to burn the camps at Ponticelli. They didn't go when asked nicely, so we had to use strong methods.' Written at the bottom of a picture by a boy called Ugo were the words: 'We are not racist, but they have got out of control so we had to burn the camps.'

Thousands of gipsies have arrived recently from Romania and other former Eastern Bloc countries.

In national elections last month, the Centre-Right coalition led by Silvio Berlusconi, which included the anti-immigration Northern League and the neo-fascist Alleanza Nazionale, swept to victory largely on a pledge to tackle illegal immigration.

But critics say the government is stoking the suspicion, and last night the Vatican weighed in with an appeal for calm.

Naples Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe said: 'I am shocked by the drawings of these youngsters, some of whom are only nine.



Up in smoke: Firefighters watch as makeshift housing burns at a Roma camp in the Ponticelli suburb of Naples on May 14

'It shows that these young minds have been affected by an extremist ideology. To think these children believe it is right to burn camps.'

During the attacks on the Ponticelli camp, children could be seen with the adults who hurled petrol bombs and shouted abuse.

Mariano Coppola, deputy principal at the school, said: 'It doesn't matter how many of the children wrote these things or drew the pictures - and not all of them did - but even just one is bad enough.'

Yesterday Italian interior minister Roberto Maroni said Italy would get tough on the Roma and the issue of unauthorised camps would be resolved 'by the end of the year'.

He added that police and city officials would be given new powers to deal with the camps.

According to the UN Refugee Agency, there are an estimated 170,000 gipsies living in Italy.



Devastation: A gutted gypsy camp in the Ponticelli neighborhood of Naples is now deserted

The tough measures have led to claims from charities and the EU that Italy is following a 'racist agenda'.

A survey published by Italian newspaper La Repubblica said 75 per cent of Italians thought the Roma were 'a problem'.

France is to spearhead a 'zero tolerance' onslaught against illegal immigrants which it hopes will be supported by all EU nations.

Paris takes over the leadership of the EU in July and it is then that the measures will be unveiled.

They include proposals to return unlawful migrants to their country of origin 'almost immediately', according to government sources.

'As far as these people are concerned, then the policy should be zero tolerance,' the source added.

The document also calls for the increased use of biometric visas to make passport fraud far more difficult and for asylum- seekers to apply for refugee status in advance.

It also asks member states to ensure that migrants allowed to stay adopt 'national and European values', including equal opportunities.



