OUTRAGE OVER FACEBOOK PAGE

A nonsensical and inhumane call...

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ROME - Politicians and Internet activists in Italy have denounced a page on the social networking site Facebook that calls for children with Down's syndrome to be used for target practice.

The police were trying to track down who set up the page, which features a photo of a Down's syndrome baby with the word "idiot" superimposed on it, and by late on Sunday had attracted nearly 1,700 members.

The page proposed what it said was "an easy and amusing solution" to get rid of "these foul creatures": Use them as targets at shooting centres.

Equality Minister Mara Carfagna, promising legal action against those responsible for the page, denounced it as "unacceptable and dangerous".

A number of rival groups - one with more than 17,000 members - have been set up on Facebook to denounce the original page.

"People's ignorance has no limits," Ms Manuela Colombo, the president of a support group for families with Down Syndrome children told Ansa news agency.

Police action to get the site shut down might take some time according to experts, because Facebook is based in California and the procedure might involve a lengthy legal process. AFP

From TODAY, Tuesday, 23-Feb-2010

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