By IPS Correspondents
FLORENCE, Sep 5 2007 (IPS)

In several towns across Italy, forced windscreen wiping is becoming a criminal offence.

Fifteen windscreen washers were reported to the authorities in Florence last week following a by-law declaring windscreen cleaning a criminal offence. Their buckets and cloths were seized.

The Florence administration has banned windscreen washing in a move to &#39clean up&#39 the city. Paradoxically, Florence is renowned in Italy for its left-wing culture and its social activism.

"Windscreen washers have become aggressive," said Graziano Cioni from the local administration. "They don&#39t ask permission: they put their sponges on the windscreen and at times this starts arguments and quarrels; and in case of unaccompanied women they may become dangerous."

At crossroads, windscreen washers appear at the red light with a sponge and a smile to clean car windscreens. Most often they do not ask permission.

"They are mostly Romanian young people, but also Roma and North Africans," Alessandro Martini from the Catholic charity Caritas told IPS.

But a temporary by-law has banned them at least until October. They can face up to three months jail and a fine of 220 euro (about 300 dollars).

The ruling has been heavily criticised by charities, the Roman Catholic Church and many left-wing politicians. The challenge, they say, is to tackle the organisations sending these people to the streets; punishing individuals will not solve the problem.

"The by-law is leading to social exclusion of peaceful workers," Patrizio Gonnella from the human rights organisation Antigone said. "Everybody has to respect rules, citizens&#39 security has to be guaranteed. But we also believe that everybody has to be integrated in society."

Florence needs services to help that happen. Caritas distributes 500 free meals daily in the city. It runs a few hostels where homeless people can find a bed for the night, and &#39listening centres&#39 where they can talk to a friendly person about their problems and hope together to find solutions.

Three out of four people using Caritas services are migrants "because these in particular are the people who nowadays need more help to overcome their marginalisation," said Martini.

Florence, with a population of 400,000, gets about a million tourists a year. About 8-10 percent of its inhabitants are believed to be of foreign origin; many are illegal migrants.

Windscreen washing has been one activity some of them take up, but there are numerous illegal jobs that flourish around tourism. Many live off begging, or from selling fake designer bags and sunglasses.

"We agree with keeping these people away from the streets, but there should be another way of doing it," Martini told IPS. "We need to help them find alternatives to exploitation. But first the administration has to acknowledge that windscreen washers are people, and have right to dignity.

"Nobody washes windscreens for pleasure. It is a humiliating job. Windscreen washers don&#39t steal anything, they accept what is given to them. They operate illegally but without harm."

But a wave of "zero tolerance" against such street earnings seems to be spreading across Italy. Trieste, a border town in the northeast, has banned windscreen washing, and also beggars and unauthorised merchants. Turin and Verona will follow.

"Let&#39s bring order back to our cities, as did New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani," minister for the interior Giuliano Amato wrote in a letter to the daily Corriere della Sera. Giuliani became famous in the late 1990s for his "zero tolerance" policy against crime.

The kind of steps Italian cities are now taking are "good for administrators looking for easy popularity," Martini said.

These steps have widespread public support. Eighty-three percent of the readers of national daily La Repubblica said in an online opinion poll that they approve the ban.

But the windscreen washers have their supporters. Two non-governmental organisations have announced they will provide free legal assistance to all windscreen washers arrested.

"Florence is a city of art and exchange, and doesn&#39t have a culture of control and protection walls," Martini told IPS. "Florence is and has to remain a city of solidarity, and welcome all people, just because they are people, with no adjectives."

Excerpt: