“Walls to evict the homeless”

On October 29, 2022, a sit-in was organized, organized by the Mama Termini association, to protest against the redevelopment (in view of Jubilee 2025) of the Turbigo underpass at Termini station in Rome, a place of refuge for many people. homeless, who can no longer sleep under the arches of the underpass.

Termini, homelessness and Jubilee 2025: what’s going on?

In the underpass of Termini station that connects via Marsala to via Giolitti, works worth 190 million euros have started for Jubilee 2025: the most important funds come from the Italian railway network, up to 140 , to which the 50 of the Campidoglio must be added, for a mammoth job that includes, among other things, new lighting, cleaning of graffiti and the installation of fire-fighting systems.

Overall, however, measures have also been considered which appear to be aimed at excluding homeless people from the underpass, which before the works was a place of refuge for them. With the construction of walls and barriers between the tunnel gates, many people were forced to migrate from other parts. The Turbigo underpass is the first of a series of projects planned to decorate the city for Jubilee 2025.

“They are building walls to expel these people and move the problem, but on the other hand they will sleep 200/300 meters away,” says Francesco Conte of Mama Termine, whom we have met several times in the past to discuss the issue. of the homeless today renamed “without everything”, since they are people who, in addition to the house, do not have a job or a document.

A few months ago, Mama Termini demonstrated against Grandi Stazioni, guilty of throwing water at the entrance to the station to prevent the homeless from sleeping on the ground. Prior to this, we had documented an unsustainable situation due to the cold emergency, made even more complex by the Covid emergency.

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Termini, a story: “There are those who don’t eat because they don’t have a euro to go to the toilet”

During the walk through the underpass, we met Maaty Elsandoubi, a personality very close to the homeless people of Termini, who also told about the complex situation of those who would like to use the station’s health services.

“Why don’t they have public toilets? [I senza tetto, ndr] They have to pay a euro to go to the toilet upstairs (at the station, editor’s note). And the bars don’t give them a chance, because their clothes are dirty. Once I saw an Indian gentleman who said to me: ‘I’m hungry, but I’m afraid to eat because I have to go to the toilet and I don’t have a euro’”.

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