Outbreaks of xenophobia in west as coronavirus spreads

Chinese people in western countries where there have been cases of the Wuhan coronavirus have said they have been the target of racist abuse as paranoia mounts over the outbreak.

In Italy, the European country with the highest annual number of Chinese tourists, the confirmation of two confirmed cases – a couple who arrived in Milan from Wuhan on 23 January on a lunar new year holiday – coincided with incidents of xenophobia and calls to avoid Chinese restaurants and shops.

Roberto Giuliani, the director of the Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome, one of the oldest music institutes in the world, was criticised by colleagues on Wednesday after telling students from China, Japan and South Korea not to come to class until after a doctor had visited their homes to ensure they have not contracted the virus.

La Repubblica published a photograph on its website showing a cafe near the Trevi fountain in Rome with a sign outside saying “all people coming from China” were barred from entering.

More than 30,000 Chinese people live in Italy and 5 million visited in 2018.

“Unfortunately, one of the inevitable impacts of this illness is xenophobia,” Marco Wong, a local councillor in the Tuscan town of Prato, home to a large Chinese population, told the Guardian.

“Parents aren’t sending their children to school if there are Chinese classmates and people are writing on the internet not to go to Chinese shops and restaurants. There is also a lot of fake news spreading – for example, an audio of an Italian guy claiming that he is in Wuhan and that he knows of a secret laboratory where this virus was created.”

Fears over the coronavirus have affected Chinese populations in other countries, too. On Wednesday, the mayor of Toronto condemned racism against Chinese-Canadians, and there have also been reports of anti-Asian racism in the UK.

In France, Chinese residents have been sharing their experiences using the hashtag #JeNeSuisPasUnVirus (I am not a virus). One young woman calling herself Forky wrote on Twitter: “Not all Asians are Chinese. Not all Chinese were born in China and not all have been there. An Asian who coughs doesn’t have the #coronavirus. Insulting an Asian because of the virus is like insulting a Muslim because of the bombings.”

There has been particular criticism of a front-page headline on the Courrier Picard, a local newspaper: “Alerte Jaune” (Yellow alert).

One man told France TV he had been approached while buying vegetables in a supermarket in Strasbourg by a woman who demanded what nationality he was and “if I had the virus”. He added: “I wouldn’t say what happened was racist, but it was a strong prejudice.”

Sacha-Lin Jung, a representative of the Association of Chinese Residents in France, told BFMTV: “People are refusing to be served by Asian people in shops … a woman was thrown off a train because she was Asian and so it was obvious she was carrying the virus. This adds to the racism and stereotypes about the Chinese that already exist.”

On Friday, Italy declared a state of emergency that will be in place for six months. It will spend an initial €5m on trying to prevent the spread of the virus.

Matteo Salvini, the leader of Italy’s far-right League, seized on the panic to plug his anti-immigration message and attack rivals in government. “Every day dozens of flights arrive in Italy from China: we need checks, checks and more checks,” he said.

Other episodes reported in Italian media include two Chinese tourists being spat at by a group of children in Venice, and three Chinese tourists being insulted in a restaurant in Turin.

One tourist was reportedly prevented from entering Pompeii’s archaeological park, another was insulted on a train, and a Chinese boy playing in a football match near Milan was told by an opponent: “I hope you get the virus too.”

There have been long queues in chemists across the country to purchase face masks. Roberta Siliquini, a former president of Italy’s higher health council, told the Guardian the paranoia was unsurprising even if it went “beyond logical sense”.

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“In Italy, we have a strange relationship with immigration but also with health aspects – it’s a country in which people don’t want to be vaccinated against measles but they are scared of a Chinese person standing 50 metres away,” she said. “And while it is very possible that we could import cases of this virus, we have one of the most efficient control systems in the world.”

Tests carried out on two Chinese tourists onboard a cruise ship in the port city of Civitavecchia were negative, the cruise company, Costa Crociere, said in a statement.