Some Nigerians in Italy have protested the brutal murder of their countryman, Alika Ogorchukwu, by an Italian man in broad daylight.
UK Guardian reported that the physically challenged 39-year-old Nigerian street seller was killed in the centre of Civitanova Marche located in the Province of Macerata in the Italian region of Marche on Friday afternoon.
A 32-year-old man from Salerno in the Campania region has been arrested on charges of murder and allegedly stealing Ogorchukwu’s mobile phone.
According to Italian media reports, the alleged attacker responded violently when Ogorchukwu said to his girlfriend: “Bella, can you buy some handkerchiefs or give me one euro.” The man is alleged to have grabbed a crutch the vendor used to walk and struck him down, according to police.
The attack was recorded on several surveillance cameras.
“Witnesses will be heard and camera images viewed to clarify the dynamics of the beating,” said Matteo Luconi, chief of the flying squad in Macerata.
Hundreds of people from the Nigerian community and Italians, including Orgorchukwu’s wife, Charity Oriachi, protested in Civitanova Marche on Saturday.
The protesters were reportedly angry that those who witnessed the attack did nothing to intervene, instead recording the event on their mobile phones.
The killing was condemned by Francesco Acquaroli, a politician with the far-right Brothers of Italy who has been president of the Marche region since September 2020.
“Along with expressing deep condolences to Alika’s family, it is also necessary to reiterate the firm condemnation of an act of insane and unprecedented violence, which has no justification and which damages the entire Marche region,” Acquaroli said.
Ogorchukwu, who was married with two children, resorted to selling goods on the street after he was struck by a car and lost his job as a labourer due to his injuries, said Daniel Amanza, who runs the ACSIM association for immigrants in the Marche region’s Macerata province.
According to Los Angeles Times, Amanza gave a different version of what happened, saying the attacker became infuriated when Ogorchukwu told the man’s companion she was beautiful.
“This compliment killed him,’’ Amanza told the Associated Press.
