MADRID, 30 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The murder in the middle of the street and in broad daylight of a Nigerian grocer who was beaten to death in the Italian coastal town of Civitanova Marche has sparked a bitter debate about violence in Italy.
The victim, Alika Ogorchukwu, 39, was assaulted after complimenting a woman. The man who accompanied her brutally assaulted the street vendor until he lost his life, according to Italian public television RAI.
Ogorchukwu, who leaves behind a wife and a son, was known in the area, had never caused any problems and was a good man, according to neighbors quoted by the chain.
The assailant is an Italian who has been immediately identified and arrested. This is Filippo Claudio Giuseppe Ferlazzo, 32 years old. When he was arrested he told the agents that the mantero “bothered my girlfriend.” Other versions suggest that he insistently asked for money. The video with the aggressor struggling with the mortal victim on the ground has already been widely disseminated on social networks.
According to eyewitnesses, Ferlazzo attacked the mantero with the Nigerian’s own crutch without anyone doing anything to prevent the violence.
“The brutal murder, which occurred today in Civitanova, leaves me bewildered. There is no justification for violence, whatever it is,” the vice president of the Ancona regional council, Mirco Carloni, posted on Facebook. “I hope that what happened is clarified,” he added.
Other voices from the Italian political spectrum, immersed in the pre-election campaign, have expressed their horror at the incident and have sent their condolences to the victim’s family.
Thus, the leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy party, Giorgia Meloni, has stressed that “there is no justification for such brutality” and has asked that the “murderer pay dearly for this horrendous murder.”
The leader of the right-wing League, Matteo Salvini, has asked for a prayer for the deceased and has sent a hug to the family. “For the murderer, a sure punishment and to the end. City of disorder. Violence day and night. We can’t take it anymore. Security has no color. Security must once again be a right,” he argued.
The leader of the 5 Star Movement, Giuseppe Conte, has claimed to be “stunned” by this aggression and has questioned “all those who have recorded the fight with the mobile without intervening”. “Will they remain indifferent? Is this the civilization we want?” He has raised.
