Race-based hate crimes are on the rise in Italy. The latest include the killing of a Moroccan, allegedly a thief, and an attack on a female discus thrower of African origins who competes on the Italian national team.
A climate of hatred against those of other races has led to violent incidents on a daily basis in Italy and several shootings have occurred in recent weeks. Many of the victims have lived and worked in the country for many years and some were born in Italy and have Italian citizenship.
A manhunt for an alleged thief in Aprilia, south of Rome, led to the death of a man of Moroccan nationality. The 43-year-old man reportedly died after being chased in Aprilia after some residents noted his presence in a car with a foreign license plate, forcing him to flee at high speed and end up off the road.
Attack on discus athlete
Italian athlete Daisy Osakue said Monday she was attacked at Moncalieri, near Turin. She was hit in the face by an egg hurled from a car and was taken to the hospital. "They did it on purpose," Osakue said. "They didn't want to hit me, as Daisy, they wanted to hit me as a young woman of color. There are several prostitutes in that area and they might have mistaken me for one of them. I have been the victim of racist incidents before, but only verbal ones. When you go from words to action it means another level has been reached.''
Osakue is a top discus athlete in her category under-23 in Italy and was born in Turin to Nigerian parents.
Air guns used
Several cases of air guns used against non-Italians or those that seem like it due to their ethnicity have also raised concern.
Konate Bonagui, a youth from Mali who has been in Italy since 2014, has a restaurant in Naples and was one of the protagonists of a Masterchef cooking show, was shot and injured while walking in the city center by two people in a vehicle who used an air gun.
A few days before, in Caserta, two youths from Mali hosted in migrant facilities had been shot by someone using an air gun from a speeding vehicle.
Investigations conducted by the authorities will now explore social media networks to understand better how this hatred spreads and whether this may lead to more copycat attacks.
The level of tension in the Campania region seems to be the highest in the country at the moment, following an air gun attack on July 27 on a youth from Gambia staying in migrant reception facilities.
Climate of hatred
In Latina, two air gun shots hit two young migrants that were waiting at a bus stop, while two other similar incidents have occurred in Forlì in the Emilia Romagna region: a Nigerian woman was injured by an air gun shot to her foot and a migrant from the Ivory Coast was shot using one by someone in a car while he was riding his bicycle.
Another serious incident happened in Rome, where a man shot a 13-month-old baby girl from the Roma ethnic group from his balcony. The little girl remains in critical conditions. On July 26, a Capo Verde worker was shot in the back by a shotgun while he was working on scaffolding outside of a building in Vicenza.