Protesters Unite in Rome to Decry Anti-Semitism : March: Spate of disturbing incidents brings avalanche of support for Italy's Jews.

Now racial and religious tensions normally are less noticeable in Italy than in other major European countries. But anti-Semitic incidents have made headlines since last week, when the magazine Espresso published a poll in which 10% of respondents said Italy would be better off without Jews. Its accuracy is now in question. But about that same proportion of Italians vote for neo-fascists and other right-wing parties.

Last week, vandals in Rome scrawled yellow stars and signs saying "Out of Italy, Zionists" on shops owned by Jewish merchants in half a dozen middle-class neighborhoods. Police blamed groups of extreme right-wing youths who call themselves "Naziskins."

Jewish youths struck back, drawing immediate criticism from the same Italian officials and Jewish elders who lamented the anti-Semitism. About 100 militant young Jews ransacked the Rome headquarters of one of the tiny Naziskin groups Thursday night.

Since then, the Italian press has been riveted by scattered anti-Semitic gestures that would have drawn more modest attention a few weeks ago: an Israeli flag burned at a soccer match in Rome; anti-Jewish slogans painted on shops in the Alban hills south of Rome; 16 Jewish tombs among 150 graves vandalized at a Sicilian cemetery.

Renascent anti-Semitism has brought an avalanche of support for Italy's Jews. The president, the prime minister, the Pope, leaders of every major party and the big labor unions have all condemned the alarming echoes of fascism.