More than half of the Italians surveyed in a recent poll have said that racist acts were either sometimes or always justifiable, a finding that comes after a series of high-profile racist and antisemitic incidents across the country. The polling firm, SWG, questioned a sample of 1,500 people of whom 10% said racist acts were always justified and a further 45% who said racist acts could be acceptable depending on the situation. The remaining 45% said racist acts of any kind were completely unacceptable. SWG conducts the same survey once a year and for the first time in a decade the majority of those questioned did not condemn racism outright. What this means is that there has been a relaxation in attitudes towards racism not necessarily that people have become racist, more that they are becoming more accepting of racist acts and do not consider them so scandalous, said Enzo Risso, scientific director at SWG.