CERVIA, Italy, Aug. 1 (UPI) -- Police said investigators were trying to determine who threw a banana at Italy's first black Cabinet minister at a political gathering last week.
Investigators were reviewing video footage and interviewing people who were in the audience in Cervia, trying to identify whoever threw the fruit at Integration Minister Cecile Kyenge, the Italian news agency ANSA reported Thursday.
The July 26 incident bears racial overtones as it followed earlier comments by Sen. Roberto Calderoli of the anti-immigration Northern League comparing the Congo-born Kyenge to an orangutan. Postings on Internet social networks since the banana-throwing incident have included slurs against Kyenge.
Just before Kyenge arrived for the July 26 rally, someone smeared blood-red paint and anti-immigrant messages onto mannequins, and posted a sign that said, "Immigration kills." The far-right political group Forza Nuova (New Force) claimed responsibility for the incident, CNN said.
Kyenge, an ophthalmologist who was appointed minister if integration this spring, said Calderoli should "reflect on the political and institutional role that he carries."
"Also, he must go beyond putting everything on a personal level," she said.
