As previously reported by REVOLT, on July 29, 39-year-old Alika Ogorchukwu was beaten to death on a busy street in Italy as onlookers watched. The Nigerian man was a street vendor often seen working in the Civitanova Marche area. Authorities identified a 32-year-old Italian man named Filippo Claudio Giuseppe Ferlazzo as his attacker.
Since the deadly incident, Deputy Police Commissioner Matteo Luconi denied the encounter was based on “racial hatred.” Ferlazzo allegedly suffers from psychiatric issues and the commissioner believed the fatal interaction was caused by Ogorchukwu’s “insistent request for a handout.” On Saturday (Aug. 6), hundreds of protesters gathered together to demand justice for Ogorchukwu, as reported by The Guardian.
The death of Ogorchukwu isn’t the only incident to spark outrage within Italy’s Black community. According to the outlet, 25-year-old Beauty Davis was allegedly slapped after asking her boss to pay her owed wages from working at his restaurant. At the time of the altercation, Davis was working as a dishwasher at a beach resort in Calabria. The Guardian reports that the physical assault was caught on camera. In it, Davis asked her boss for back pay, claiming she’d only been paid for three hours even though she worked 10. The unnamed man is now under investigation for causing personal injury, theft and issuing threats.
Local Democratic politician Laura Boldrini feels the League and Brothers of Italy (a national-conservative and right-wing populist political party) have “always described immigrants as a threat to the security of Italians, as murderers and rapists.” She continued, “We need immigrants to work in a variety of areas, but there is also this idea that you can exploit them, pay them little, insult them and hit them. Why? Because some people don’t consider them to be worthy of respect and because they are considered an inferior category.”
Last week (Aug. 1), the Times-Union reported that an Italian judge ordered the suspect to remain in custody until an investigation is complete. According to Vice, Ferlazzo is being held on suspicion of murder.