Two episodes of racism have taken place in the span of a few days in northern Italy, one in Trento and one in the region of Lombardy. Both of the episodes involved young men from Senegal.
One was forced to give up his seat on a bus because of the colour of his skin, while the other was beaten while on his way to work. The case in Lombardy Mame Serigne Gueye, 28, has lived and worked in the Valtellina valley since 2007. Around 2 a.m. he was riding his bicycle to the bakery where he works in the town of Morbegno. He told Carabinieri police that when he reached the square in the historic centre of town, a group of young men who were possibly drunk began to hurl racial insults at him and then beat him.
Gueye ended up in hospital with an injured shoulder and neck and filed a criminal complaint. One of the Italians in the group also filed a criminal complaint, maintaining that Gueye beat him and caused an injury to his eye that doctors said would take seven days to heal.
Carabinieri police are investigating the incident to determine how the episode started, and they are using security camera surveillance footage from the area. The centre-right mayor of Morbegno, Andrea Ruggeri, said the city has "always been hospitable to those belonging to different ethnicities". He said the city has various initiatives aimed at integration. "If, however, something like this truly did happen, then a conviction should be firm, no ifs, ands or buts," he said.
The episode in Trento
The other episode took place two days ago aboard a Flixbus coach from Trento to Rome which departed at 10 p.m. In a Facebook account of the episode by a student from Ferrara, a 40-something Italian woman demanded that a 25-year-old man from Senegal named Mamadou leave his seat next to her and move to the back of the bus, reportedly adding, "you're colored, you're of another religion."
The woman was so insistent that the young man, who had been sitting where the driver had told him to sit, broke out in tears and told her to call the police so they could assure her of his right to travel on that bus and sit in that seat. Police arrived on the scene and the situation was resolved when the young man agreed to change his seat. The state prosecutor's office is now handling the case.
Flixbus issued a statement: "We have always worked to ensure everyone the possibility to travel and reach their loved ones, and we will continue to do so."