In Italy, a black street vendor is beaten to death by an Italian. The police are investigating.
Update from Sunday, July 31, 6:45 a.m .: After a Nigerian street vendor was beaten to death in Civitanova Marche, Italy, the reactions are increasing. Enrico Letta, former Prime Minister and head of the left-wing Democratic Party, described the act as “outrageous cruelty”. “There can be no justification,” Letta said. There were also reactions from the right-wing camp. For example, Matteo Salvini, federal party secretary of the right-wing Lega party, was outraged: “Security has no color and […] must be a right again.” The mayor of Civitanova Marche, Fabrizio Ciarapica, met with members of the local Nigerian community after hundreds demonstrated. “I not only condemn the [crime, ed. Red.], but also indifference,” Ciarapica told Sky . “This is something that has shocked the citizens.”
Police investigations are ongoing. However, the first details have already been announced. “The attacker charged the victim and first hit him with a crutch. He made him fall to the ground, then finished the act by hitting him repeatedly with his bare hands,” investigator Matteo Luconi said at a news conference. He later told Italian news channel Sky TG24 that bystanders called the police, who responded after the suspect fled and tried to help the victim. An autopsy should now clarify whether death was caused by beatings, suffocation or another cause. This is reported by the AP news agency.
The 32-year-old suspect was arrested. He is suspected of murder and theft because he is said to have stolen the victim’s phone. According to Luconi, the attacker struck after the seller “persistently” asked for change. Police interviewed witnesses and viewed video of the attack. The suspect did not comment, it said.
Italy: Nigerians killed on the street – horror at the bloody deed and filming passers-by
First report from Saturday, July 30, 8 p.m.: Civitanova Marche – On a shopping street in the Italian Adriatic town of Civitanova Marche, a 32-year-old Italian attacked a Nigerian street vendor on Friday afternoon (July 29) and beat him to death. This is reported, among other things, by the German Press Agency . What causes particular dismay: Although numerous people observed the act on a busy shopping street and sometimes even filmed it, nobody intervened.
In a video of the fact that is circulating on the Internet, you can only hear people asking the attacker to let go of his victim. Others call for the police to be called. Italian police officers were able to arrest the 32-year-old at the scene, but any help came too late for his 39-year-old victim.
Frightening crime in Italy: the police see no racist background
As reported by the Italian police, the attacker initially pursued his victim, brought him down with his crutch and hit the man lying on the ground several times. He then took the man’s cell phone with him, which is why the police are now accusing the man of intentional killing and robbery.
While a passer-by said on Italian television that the man was only killed because of the color of his skin, the police emphasized that from the authorities’ point of view there were “no signs” of a racist act. The investigators suspected that the crime was triggered by an exaggerated reaction by the alleged perpetrator when the victim asked for money. According to media reports, the man was a well-known street vendor in the area.
Bloody crime on the open road: a famous author condemns the behavior of passers-by
The regional president of the Marche region, where Civitanova Marche is located, spoke on Facebook of “insane and unprecedented violence”. According to him, the region wants to appear as a civil party in a possible court case.
The writer and investigative journalist Roberto Saviano also spoke up via the social network and described the reaction of the eyewitnesses as “unacceptable”: “AO, 39, was brutally murdered by FF, 32, out of anger. … Social media has fundamentally changed us. It seems like for some, perhaps too many, things only seem real when they film it with a phone, and this seems like the ultimate intrusion into things they can have.” (ska/dpa)
