EU Parliament guards cause a stir by censoring anti-Mafia T-shirts

Mar 18, 2010, 18:18 GMT

Brussels - Security guards caused a stir Thursday by shutting 80 students out of the European Parliament in Brussels because the anti-Mafia T-shirts they were wearing were deemed to carry a political message, violating rules of conduct for visitors.

A delegation from the University of Palermo, Sicily, had traveled to Brussels to attend a conference on the fight against the Mafia, the organized crime syndicate that infiltrates much of the economic activity in the south of Italy.

But once they noticed that the students were all wearing T-shirts carrying the slogan 'No Mafia - Sicilians against any type of Mafia' in Italian, English, French and German, security guards prevented the group from entering parliament premises.

They were allowed to proceed only after removing the offending items of clothing, which were collected by two EU lawmakers, who are exempt from the rules applied for visitors.

The leader of the Socialist and Democrats' (S&D) parliamentary group, Martin Schulz, said he would protest about the 'unacceptable' treatment at an upcoming meeting of parliament's political leaders.

'Four security staff maintained a patrol outside the meeting room (where the anti-Mafia conference was taking place) to ensure the visitors did not again wear their T-shirts,' a statement from the S&D revealed.

The students had been invited by Rosario Crocetta, an S&D deputy and a crusading former mayor of Gela, one of the Mafia's strongholds in Sicily, who is under police protection after receiving death threats.

'These brave young people should be welcomed into the parliament, not blocked at the door. There are parts of Italy where their lives would be in danger simply for wearing their T-shirts,' he said.

Organizers of the anti-Mafia conference told the German Press Agency