An Italian man was detained by Italian police in connection with the murder of a Nigerian street vendor who was brutally beaten to death on a major beach town boulevard in front of witnesses who made no apparent move to physically assist.
Italian news websites and social media have been inundated with video evidence of the incident, which has sparked indignation as the country prepares for parliamentary elections in which the right-wing coalition has already made immigration a point of contention.
Enrico Letta, a former prime minister and the leader of the left-wing Democratic Party, stated on Twitter on Saturday, referring to the vendor who died on Friday, “The murder of Alika Ogorchukwu is dismaying.” “Unprecedented savagery. a general lack of interest. There is no defense possible.
Security is a key component of right-wing leader Matteo Salvini’s platform, and he too voiced outrage over the killing, saying that “security has no color and… needs to return to being a right.”
Matteo Renzi, a former premier who now leads a minor party, criticized politicians for “instrumentalizing” the assault.
He posted on social media, “I am disturbed by this electoral climate. ” “A fther was slain in a horrifying and discriminatory manner while onlookers recorded the incident without intervening to stop the perpetrator. Politicians debate and use their positions for their own purposes rather than considering what we are becoming.
The leader of the left-leaning Democratic Party, Enrico Letta, stated, “The murder of #AlikaOgorchukwu leaves us perplexed. the extraordinary ferocity. a general lack of interest. There is no defense possible. Even being silent is insufficient. Moving on and forgetting would be the greatest insult to #Alika.
You can’t die like that, said right-wing politician Matteo Salvini, who has made security a key component of his political platform. We can’t take it anymore: security has no color, security must once again become a right. A prayer for Alika, a hug for her family, and a certain amount of anguish until the end.
According to the police, Ogorchukwu, 39, was attacked while he was selling items on the main street of Civitanova Marche, a beach resort on the Adriatic Sea, on Friday. His attacker snatched the vendor’s crutch and punched him. Video captures the attacker forcing the victim to fall to the ground while he struggled against him until finally pinning Ogorchukwu with the weight of his body.
“The attacker pursued the victim and struck him with a crutch at first. Police investigator Matteo Luconi stated at a press conference that the attacker repeatedly struck the victim with his bare hands after causing him to fall to the ground.
Later, he revealed to Italian news outlet Sky TG24 that witnesses called the police, who arrived after the culprit had escaped and tried to help the victim. If the death was brought on by blows, suffocation, or another reason, an autopsy will reveal this information.
Street cameras were utilized by police to follow the attacker’s activities, and they were able to apprehend 32-year-old Filippo Claudio Giuseppe Ferlazzo. He was being detained on suspicion of the victim’s phone theft and murder.
According to Luconi, the attacker struck the vendor after she “insistently” asked for change. Police were watching videos of the assault and questioning witnesses. They claimed that the suspect had not spoken out.
Ogorchukwu, a married father of two, turned to hawking items on the street after being hit by a car and losing his work as a laborer as a result of his wounds, according to Daniel Amanza, the director of the ACSIM association for immigrants in the Macerata province in the Marche region.
Amanza provided a different account of what transpired, claiming that the attacker became enraged after Ogorchukwu called the man’s companion attractive.
The Associated Press was told by Amanza that “this compliment destroyed him.”
Tragically, there were a lot of people nearby. They recorded while yelling “Stop,” but nobody intervened to keep them apart, Amanza claimed.
In 2018, a shooting spree in Macerata that targeted African immigrants left six persons injured. The gunshots, which Italy’s top court determined qualified as a hate crime, resulted in the conviction of 31-year-old Luca Traini and a 12-year prison term.
After hundreds of people demonstrated on Saturday, Fabrizio Ciarapica, the mayor of Civitanova Marche, met with members of the Nigerian community.
Ciarapica told Sky, “My criticism is not only for the (crime), but also for the indifference. “Citizens have been surprised by this,”
