Italy Teachers, Lawmakers Protest

ROME (AP) -- The politically fraught debate in Italy over whether to accelerate citizenship for children of immigrants has taken new urgency with a petition and hunger strike launched by teachers demanding equal rights for their students.

On Thursday, Infrastructure Minister Graziano Delrio joined the hunger strike to demand parliament take up the legislation, which stalled after the ruling Democrats realized their needed allies wouldn't back it.

Hundreds of teachers launched the hunger strike Tuesday to mark the anniversary of a deadly 2013 migrant shipwreck off Lampedusa that marked a turning point in Europe's migration saga.

Their online petition denounces the "paradox of having to educate students in citizenship and constitution ... knowing well that many will never have either citizenship or the right to vote."

(KA)

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