The head of Romania's diplomatic mission to Rome, Charge d'Affairs Radu Horumba, says that racial threats against the Romanian community in Italy should not be a source of concern.

His position comes as Rome mayor Walter Veltroni has urged Italian citizens to take to the streets to protest high crime levels, which many blame mostly on ethnic Romanians living in Italy.

Romanian Consulate to Milan and some other Romanian Associations in Italy were threatened on Saturday by an online message written in Italian that warned the Romanian community would face racial repression over the involvement of ethnic Romanians in many crimes across the country.

Radu Horumba said he did not consider the threat as posing serious risks for Romanians living in the Peninsula.

He added that local Italian authorities had been notified about the threat and that the police were investigating the case. Horumba said he considered it to be the reaction of a person with serious mental health problems.

According to the Italian daily Il Giornale, Rome mayor Walter Veltroni called Italian citizens to protest Saturday October 13 against a wave of crimes that are most often blamed on Romanian citizens.