EU Parliament head denounces Lazio fans for anti-Semitism
BRUSSELS (AP) The head of the European Parliament strongly denounced Italian football hooligans who used Anne Frank's image to offend the fans of an opposing team, saying on Tuesday that anti-Semitism has no place in Europe today.
Lazio fans were discovered in Rome on Monday to have anti-Semitic stickers and graffiti that included images of Frank, the young diarist who died in the Holocaust, wearing a jersey of the rival Roma team. It was the latest in a long line of racist or anti-Semitic incidents involving Lazio supporters.
Antonio Tajani, himself Italian, told the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, that ''using the image of Anne Frank as an insult against others is a very grave matter.''
Tajani said the EU must remain a place of religious tolerance where Europe's Jewish communities feel welcome. He said anti-Semitism must be a phenomenon confined to the past.
''The Jewish communities are part of our European Union. I am proud to have fellow citizens belonging to the Jewish faith, and I think that anti-Semitism must remain only a horrible experience of our past, a horrible experience of the century that has ended,'' he said.
