A migrant encampment on the Roya riverbank in Ventimiglia | Photo: ARCHIVE/ANSA/ALICE SPAGNOLO
A migrant encampment on the Roya riverbank in Ventimiglia | Photo: ARCHIVE/ANSA/ALICE SPAGNOLO

The mayor of the northwestern border city of Ventimiglia in Liguria, Flavio Di Muro, has commented on the gunfight reported on Saturday night, September 6, near a migrant camp on the Roya riverbank. Two people were injured in the shootout, including an 18-year-old who is in serious condition. Police are investigating the incident.

The Mayor of the border city of Ventimiglia, Flavio Di Muro, a member of the League Party, has commented on a gunfight reported in the night of September 6 in Via Tenda, near a migrant encampment on the Roya riverbank, in which two foreigners aged 18 and 30 were injured. The teen is in serious condition due to a vascular injury.

"It is necessary to do everything possible to ensure adequate security and serenity in the Gianchette neighbourhood, and we will do it," he said.

"I am telling those who say that the only solution would be to open a hosting center that they are lying and know it. In this specific case, a migrant armed with a gun cannot and should not be admitted into any hosting facility, which must serve those who truly want assistance, but should be arrested and expelled," the mayor added.

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Two Tunisians injured, including a teen who is in serious condition

One of the two Tunisians injured in the gunfight, who was hospitalized on the morning of September 7, is in serious condition, medical sources said. The 18-year-old is being treated after a bullet went through his thigh.

Medical personnel at the hospital in nearby Sanremo, where he was initially taken in a 'code red' life-threatening emergency, decided to transfer him to the specialized medical facility Santa Corona at Pietra Ligure after noticing an artery was bleeding. In addition, the youth was suffering from hypothermia because the shootout occurred during the night.

The other man involved in the gunfight, aged 30, was taken to hospital in a 'code yellow' of medium gravity after he was grazed by a bullet in the calf and a toe.

Police are investigating the shootout and the people involved.

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Mayor says he has signed measure banning illegal encampments

The mayor said his administration has worked "more than any other" to guarantee security. "I signed a while ago the measure banning illegal encampments and bivouacs, along with another one banning the sale and consumption of alcohol. Surveillance cameras, previously absent or not functioning, are now filming the area and are at the disposal" of investigators, he continued.

Announcing that he has already spoken with the Prefect of Imperia, Antonio Giaccari, the mayor warned: "The objective we have outlined, together with the prefecture, is not only to clear" illegal encampments "but to guarantee, with the commitment of security forces whom I thank, that the situation will not recur the following day."

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