古亞連
2019-4-9 21:46:27
Antonio Candreva: Footballer helps tuna-and-crackers lunch girl
Inter Milan football star Antonio Candreva has stepped in to pay school meal fees for a girl from a poor immigrant family who was given tuna and crackers instead of the normal lunch.
Italian media say the girl burst into tears when she was given the reduced lunch, at a primary school near Verona.
"I'm ready to help the parents pay the canteen," Candreva told the mayor of Minerbe, 35km (22 miles) from Verona.
A political row erupted, as the mayor is in the anti-immigration League.
The League's most prominent politician is Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, in a populist coalition government with anti-establishment Five Star.
Minerbe's Mayor Andrea Girardi said the girl's reduced meal of tuna and crackers was simply a gesture of "correctness towards the families who pay the [canteen] fee regularly".
The centre-left Democratic Party (PD) accused the authorities of "a discriminatory choice".
Reports say other children ate pasta and a second dish, while the girl just had tinned tuna and crackers.