Eritreans of Italian descent demand Rome finally grant them citizenship

Group of more than 300 descendants of people born under Italian rule accuse state of crime of colonial racism'

Hundreds of Eritreans of Italian descent who trace their ancestry to the period of Italy's colonial rule are demanding Italian citizenship, a right denied to them by Benito Mussolini's racial laws.

A group of more than 300 grandchildren or great-grandchildren of people born to Italian fathers and Eritrean mothers have written to the Italian president, Sergio Mattarella, and other government officials urging them to finally examine and resolve an issue that has never really been addressed, a crime of colonial racism that marked the life of thousands of innocent women and men, and which continues to discriminate against generations of Italians".