The mayor of Ventimiglia, a city in northern Italy, has received letters containing death threats against him and his family and books linked to Nazi Fascism. The incidents are being seen as a reaction to his migration management policies in the border city.
Ventimiglia Mayor Enrico Ioculano received three letters containing death threats dated May 26, August 25 and November 2 in connection with his management of migrants transiting through the town on the border of Italy and France.
He also received a parcel on August 31, 2006 containing four books linked to Nazi Fascism, which alluded to ethnic cleansing.
Threats and insults over migration management
In the typed letter dated August 25, unidentified persons said they wanted to kill the mayor or a member of his family.
The letters also contained insults relating to his management of migrants in the city. "I am upset and concerned for my family more than for myself. And in particular I consider the climate that has been created to be intolerable. While I can understand that a citizen should hold me responsible for the situation concerning migrants, I can in no way justify the political exploitation," Ioculano said. Police have been investigating for several months now.
One of the books sent to the mayor included the highlighted phrase: "Those who transform Italy into refugee camps containing the worst scum from every corner of the earth, is guilty of high treason and deserves to be shot: up against the wall, up against the wall, up against the wall."
Thousands in transit through the city
In a year, 13,447 migrants transited through the Roya reception centre in Ventimiglia run by the Red Cross, according to the "Dossier statistico immigrazione 2017."
Last year, 13,000 migrants from 82 countries found shelter in the other two centres run by Caritas and "Ventimiglia Con-fine solidale." Of the migrants 3,500 were minors and of these, half were unaccompanied.
Some 17,048 migrants were turned away at the border by the French authorities in 2016 and 4,000 in the first quarter of 2017. Fourteen migrants died trying to cross the border between September 2016 and August 2017.