Beating to death in the street in Italy of an immigrant without anyone preventing him

The murder of Nigerian vendor Alika Ogorchukwu in broad daylight on a central street in the Italian city of Civitanova March, a tourist spot on the Adriatic, has shocked the country in the midst of the electoral campaign, with criticism of the "indifference" of those who attended the crime without intervening, beyond notifying the police and yelling at the aggressor.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
30 July 2022 Saturday 13:48
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Beating to death in the street in Italy of an immigrant without anyone preventing him

The murder of Nigerian vendor Alika Ogorchukwu in broad daylight on a central street in the Italian city of Civitanova March, a tourist spot on the Adriatic, has shocked the country in the midst of the electoral campaign, with criticism of the "indifference" of those who attended the crime without intervening, beyond notifying the police and yelling at the aggressor.

“The murder of Alika Ogorchukwu is shocking. Unheard of ferocity. widespread indifference. There can be no justifications and silence is not enough. The last outrage against Alika would be to turn the page and forget”, denounced the leader of the Democratic Party, Enrico Letta.

Ogorchukwu, a 39-year-old Nigerian man with a wife and an 8-year-old son, died on Friday afternoon at the hands of Italian Filippo Claudio Ferlazzo, 32, already in prison accused of voluntary manslaughter and robbery, given that he took the phone from the victim.

The Nigerian, a street vendor, was in the central Umberto I street of Civitanova Marche, a tourist port on the Adriatic coast, when the two men got into a fight. The images show Ferlazzo dealing several blows to Ogorchukwu until he was knocked to the ground. Then he got on top of him until he ended his life, as can be seen in the videos recorded by passers-by.

The spokesman for the Macerata police force, Matteo Luconi, explained that, although the investigation is still open, at the moment there are no elements that allow the crime to be attributed to racism, but rather "it seems that it arose" when the victim was asking for alms. Other sources say that the victim had complimented the aggressor's companion. "The compliment killed him," said Daniel Amanza, head of a local onegé dedicated to the integration of immigrants.

The murderer has asked Ogorchukwu's family for "forgiveness" through his lawyer and alleged that the fight arose because he "insistently begged for alms" and because he grabbed his girlfriend's arm, who was with him at the time and who has already declared as witness.

The death has shocked Italy, in the midst of the electoral campaign for the general elections on September 25, and many people, including the Nigerian community, gathered yesterday in Civitanova Marche or Ancona to demand justice.

The Sant'Egidio association, dedicated to the reception of refugees in Italy, lamented these events and called to "stop the violence but also the violence that opens the way. It is an episode that has occurred in a street normally full of people, in the heart of Civitanova Marche. There are even those who have recorded it, others shouted at the aggressor, but nobody intervened, "the organization denounced.

The acting Minister of Health, Roberto Speranza, assured that “indifference is as serious and unjustifiable as violence”. Even the far-right leaders Matteo Salvini and Giorgia Meloni, always critical of immigration, lamented the crime, which they relate not to racism with lack of security, and requested that "the maximum possible sentence."