Hundreds camp in Rome heatwave as Meloni government cracks down on squats

Hundreds of people have spent a week sleeping in tents in the Rome heat amid a standoff between Giorgia Meloni’s far-right government and local politicians over the future of Italy’s most high-profile centre for housing and social assistance.

A minor fire last week forced the evacuation of the building, occupied by grassroots groups since 2013, and it has remained closed as the Meloni government attempts to crack down on such squatted properties.

“It’s an awful situation, made worse by this heatwave,” said Petronela Podaro, a domestic worker from Romania camped outside the building, its huge red gates locked up, in Rome’s Esquilino district.

The fire inside Spin Time Labs broke out in the early hours of 29 July in an external area and was quickly extinguished by residents before it could spread.

Police evacuated the 10-floor complex, citing the need for safety checks, forcing about 400 residents including children, elderly and disabled people on to the street.

Spin Time Labs, an initiative supported by Rome’s leftwing council and the Vatican, has long been targeted for eviction by Meloni’s government, which regards occupied buildings as dens for criminality.

The centre, which over the last decade has transformed into a space offering various social and cultural services, including a food bank, a restaurant and co-working, hit the headlines in 2019 after an aide to the late Pope Francis, Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, climbed down a manhole to restore the electricity, provoking the fury of Matteo Salvini, who was the interior minister at the time and is now deputy prime minister.

Various Italian writers, actors and film directors, including the Oscar winner Paolo Sorrentino, have appealed for the residents to be allowed back in or for alternative accommodation to be provided.

Roberto Saviano, an author and high-profile critic of Meloni’s government, visited the scene on Monday and described the centre as a “symbol of democracy” rather than a criminal act.

The building is now under two judicial seizure orders – one linked to the private owner’s long-running legal battle to regain possession and the other to the fire.

Although shutting down Spin Time is in its plans, the interior ministry has failed to carry out an eviction order first issued by a judge in 2020, two years before Meloni came to power, reportedly due to fears over the social and legal repercussions of forcing vulnerable people on to the street. Earlier this year, the ministry, led by Matteo Piantedosi, was ordered to pay €21m in damages for failing to act on the eviction order.

As Rome’s council, which along with an army of volunteers has provided camp beds, food, drink and medical assistance, scrambles for a solution, including offering to buy the building so that the community can be maintained, Spin Time’s residents are facing more time on the street.

“There are lots of children, newborns, elderly and disabled people, and those with complicated illnesses who are struggling in this heat,” said Podaro, who is unemployed. “But we are very united community, of all nationalities and backgrounds. What this government doesn’t seem to understand is that if we had a decent job and could earn money, then we wouldn’t be in this situation.”

Spin Time has provided a lifeline for hundreds of people, including Marco Perilli, an Italian construction worker who was one of the community’s first residents after becoming homeless following a divorce.

Perilli was also among the residents who put the fire out. “There was panic but we were able to extinguish it within about 20 minutes,” he said. “Firefighters made the area safe but then the police arrived and, because we were afraid, we all went outside. They locked the gates and told us we couldn’t go back inside due to the safety checks. Within a few hours, the building was seized.”

Perilli said police searched the building for drugs and weapons. “It backfired because they found nothing,” he added, while claiming “the fire was exploited as an excuse for eviction”.

“But we will continue to fight against it,” he said. “The Meloni government needs to think carefully about the real meaning of power. Power is not about attacking poor people – this government is at war against the poor.”

Benjamin Macshane, a British volunteer cook in Spin Time’s restaurant, said the initiative provided more than just shelter. “There’s co-working, there’s an after-school club, there’s migration assistance, a food bank, a barbers, an auditorium … I can’t think of anywhere else in the world that has so many different avenues for a community to grow.”