The gardens by Piazza Venezia in the middle of Rome are normally used as a rest stop by tired tourists. In recent weeks, they have instead become home to weary asylum seekers, evicted from a building in Rome that they had illegally occupied for years.
At dawn on Monday, the police came to evict the group once again, this time from a makeshift camp, forcibly removing a tent and cardboard boxes used for bedding.
“We’re all looking for a little bit of shelter,” said Saba, 30, who asked that her full name not be published for fear of running further afoul of the authorities. “They say we have to disappear, but where will we go?”