A masked group of some 20 men armed with sticks went on the rampage in Rome's multi-ethnic Pigneto district May 24, smashing the windows of shops owned by Indian and Bangladeshi immigrants while hurling verbal abuse. The mob disappeared before police arrived. The assault comes days after a mob firebombed Gypsy (Roma) camps in Naples.

A Czech activist, Jan Bednar, has been on hunger strike for two weeks to protest the "military occupation of the Czech Republic by the United States"—by which he means the plans to build a radar base for the new "missile shield" on Czech territory. From the Nonviolence.cz website, May 25:

ETA commander Francisco Javier López Peña AKA "Thierry"—on the run since 1983 and held responsible for ending the last ceasefire—was arrested late May 20 in Bordeaux in a joint operation involving the French Gendarmerie and Spanish Guardia Civil. Arrested with Thierry at a downtown apartment were Ainhoa Ozaeta Mendiondo, Igor Suberbiola and Jon Salaberría, a former member of the Basque parliament and Batasuna leader. All four were armed, but did not resist. Ozaeta Mendiondo is the voice who reads ETA's communiqués in media releases, and said to be the lover of the son of veteran militant Josu Ternera. (ThinkSpain, May 21)

Spanish ministers and royalty attended the funeral of a Civil Guard killed in a May 14 car bombing blamed on ETA at a barracks in Legutiano, near the Basque city of Vitoria. Four officers were hurt. (BBC, May 15) Meanwhile, the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights, Martin Scheinin, concluded an eight-day mission to Spain to review that country's practices in combating terrorism. While the report issued at the end of the trip praised certain "best practices" in safeguarding the rights of suspects, it also raised concerns about abuses. (UN News Centre, May 14) An excerpt:

In a massive sweep of shantytowns in urban areas across the country, Italian police arrested nearly 400 undocumented immigrants in Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's first week back in power. 118 were immediately expelled, and many others held to face immigration, drug and other charges. Most of the detained were from Romania and North Africa. Anti-crime director Francesco Gratteri said the operation was aimed at fighting crime "linked to illegal immigration."

A fence designed to separate the Roma from the majority community in Havlíčkův Brod, Czech Republic, has received approval from the local planning office. The remaining obstacle seems to be who will pay for the construction. People from the housing condominium who complained about the Roma are refusing to pay half of the costs, as municipal authorities demand. Ivan Veselý from the Romani association Dženo warns that if construction goes ahead, the country's international image will suffer. "The Czech Republic will discredit itself again," he said. Džamila Stehlíková, minister without portfolio for human rights, has failed to talk local officials out of the plan. (Prague Daily Monitor, May 7)

On April 20 a bomb exploded outside the offices of Spain's ruling Socialist party in the Basque town of Elgoibar (Guipúzcoa province), causing considerable damage but no injuries. Police said the blast followed a telephone warning in the name of the armed separatist group ETA. (AP, April 20) While the attack made some international headlines, there was little note that it came one day before a trial opened against 27 members of Basque pro-amnesty organizations on charges that they are ETA fronts. The 27, members of Askatasuna, Gestoras Pro-Amnistía, Behatokia and Senideak, refused to respond to questioning by the Spanish prosecutor. The case stems from an eight-year inquiry by Baltasar Garzón, Spain's leading anti-terror investigator. (EiTB24, April 21)

Judges at the Yugoslav War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague April 3 found two former commanders of the Kosova Liberation Army (KLA), Kosova's ex-prime minister Ramush Haradinaj and Idriz Balaj, not guilty on all charges. A third ex-KLA defendant, Lahi Brahimaj, was sentenced to six years imprisonment. The three were accused of murders, rapes, torture and persecution of Serbs and perceived collaborators during the KLA guerilla struggle in 1998. (VOA, Kosova Live, April 3)