The TV anchor was rattling off Italy’s general election results in the early hours of Monday morning and Zak could not fall asleep. He had been restless and sick with worry for weeks, ever since a neo-fascist had shot six Africans in the city of Macerata and the leaders of rightwing parties had vowed to kick 600,000 migrants out of the country if elected.
Zak, 17, comes from the Gambia and lives in a community for minors in Catenanuova, in the heart of Sicily. He made the perilous sea crossing from Libya in a wooden boat and has been waiting for months for a decision on his refugee status.
He bears the scars of torture from eight months of beatings in Libya. His father is Gambian, his mother Senegalese. In Senegal he had been forced to attend Islamic schools. Feeling deprived of his liberty, he had decided to flee.
As the hours went by on Monday, his worst nightmare became a reality: an anti-immigrant coalition of rightwing parties took 37% of the vote. It was not enough to govern, but it gives them a powerful hand in the coalition horse-trading that has already begun. Zak now fears he will never get his papers and that he will soon be deported.
“I followed the Italian election campaign very carefully, and almost all the parties, especially those on the right like the League, blame us for their economic problems and threaten to deport us,” Zak said. “In Sicily, youth unemployment is at 57% but nobody speaks about that. The politicians say the main problem is migrants and Italian people believe it.”
In recent months the number of people waiting outside police stations across Italyfor renewal of their residence permits has multiplied. The officials who process renewals are booked up with appointments until the summer. Many applicants fear being returned to their home countries by the new government before they have a chance to get fresh permits.
Slah Msalem, from Zarzis in southern Tunisia, arrived on the Italian island of Lampedusa in February 2011 as an unaccompanied minor. Tunisians in Italy are considered economic migrants and therefore vulnerable to expulsion.
“I know it will not happen right away, maybe months will pass, but it will happen,” said Msalem, 21. “The appointment at the police station was fixed on 18 June. I do not know what will happen in the meantime. If they stop me without documents they will surely take me to the police station and I’m afraid of being sent back to Tunisia.”
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