The street vendor insisted that the suspect’s girlfriend buy the handkerchiefs he had brought. The incident, which took place on one of the busiest streets in the city of Civitanova Marche, causes a wave of indignation in Italy and serves as a pretext for criticism of the far right.
“Bella, can you buy me some scarves or give me a euro?” Alika Ogorchukvu told Filippo’s friend Claudio Ferlazzo as the couple strolled along the busy Umberto I Street in downtown Civitanova Marche last Friday. The seller’s alleged persistence resulted in the 32-year-old reacting in an unusual way, bludgeoning him to death in broad daylight with no one trying to stop the violent crime.
Videos circulating on the Internet, recorded by viewers who apparently did not try to stop the aggressor, show Ferlazzo beating Ogorchukva on the ground. The footage, also filmed by surveillance cameras installed on the spot, shows the aggressor taking the crutch from the seller, who used it as a prop for movement. On the ground, the suspect lay down on top of the victim and tightly squeezed her neck, leaving her in agony for three to four minutes.
In addition to the violence applied to the 39-year-old seller, the aggressor also stole his mobile phone. Ferlazzo is now in custody, who, according to the Italian press, has a criminal record, is accused of premeditated murder and theft. The suspect initially told authorities he attacked the Nigerian because he was “making comments” about his girlfriend, but according to later testimony, Ferlazzo allegedly attacked Ogorchukva after the salesman insisted on asking the woman to buy him tissues or serve him charity.
Ferlazzo has already apologized to the Ogorchukvu family, who are survived by their eight-year-old son, through the lawyer who represents him. The Italian’s defense claims he suffered a psychotic break that led him to extreme violence, adding that Ferlazzo is now “in disarray” due to his mental issues.
Comparison to George Floyd
Hundreds of people, including members of the Nigerian community and Italians, demonstrated over the weekend in Civitanova and the nearby city of Ancona, demanding answers. “We want justice. Stop racism against black people,” they called in the context of outrage caused by the fact that no one did anything to stop the tragic outcome.
Why didn’t anyone help him? Charity Oriachi, Aliki Ogorchukwu’s wife, questioned in statements to the Italian newspaper La Reppublica, leaving a message: “All I want is justice. Italy won’t leave me alone.”
The contours in which the murder took place have already led several organizations to compare the crime to the case of African-American George Floyd, who died in the US in 2020 after being strangled to death. However, Macerata police spokesman Matteo Luconi clarified that while the investigation is still ongoing, there is no evidence that the crime was racially motivated.
However, Italy’s refugee association Sant’Egidio deplores the crime and calls for an end to violence against migrants. “This is an episode that took place on a crowded street, in the very center of Civitanova. There are even those who filmed it, others shouted at the aggressor, but no one did anything,” the organization said.
At a time when the country was plunged into political crisis after Prime Minister Mario Draghi stepped down, the death of Aliki Ogorchukvu has served as a motto to criticize Italy’s far right, which may be about to take over the country.
Polls point to a high likelihood of a far-right parliamentary majority leading to a government consisting of Fratelli d’Italia (FDI), Giorgia Meloni, Liga, Matteo Salvini and Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia, but far-right parties are now under fire after how the death of a Nigerian salesman was publicly mourned when they often advocate anti-migration policies aimed at excluding refugees from Italian society.
Upon learning of the events of last Friday, Matteo Salvini demanded the “maximum possible punishment” for the aggressor, mourning the death of the migrant. Antonio Tajani, national coordinator of Forza Italia, said he was “saddened” by what happened in Civitanova Marche, which he described as a city that “has always been open, peaceful and hospitable”.
However, the complaints came just days after members of the right-wing coalition began preparations for the election campaign, posting on social media news of crimes and abuses allegedly committed by “false refugees” and “illegal immigrants.” The parties are promoting anti-immigrant policies and claim that strengthening national security is one of the priorities for the future, so some critics are pointing the finger at the coalition, saying that these campaigns are sending a signal of hatred that encourages this type of crime. cruel.
“Some political parties legitimize fear and hatred of those who are different. This is a danger that we must fight every day,” said Abubacar Soumahoro, an Italian-Ivorian activist, trade unionist and sociologist.
On social media, many Italian figures accused Salvini and Meloni of spreading hatred against asylum seekers during political rallies. Enrico Letta, leader of the left-wing Democratic Party, spoke of “widespread indifference” as he taunted far-right leaders in a tweet.
The Marche region of Italy has been governed since 2020 by the FDI, a descendant of the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement (MSI). Georgia Meloni, who may become Italy’s first far-right leader since Mussolini, recently said the country needs to “repatriate immigrants back to their countries of origin and then sink the boats that saved them.”
“In the city of Voznesensk, Mykolaiv region, an arsenal was destroyed, which stored 45,000 tons of ammunition supplied to the Ukrainian army by NATO,” said Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov, quoted by EFE.
According to the Russian authorities, the country’s aviation inflicted more than 300 casualties among Ukrainian defenders.
“Consequences of the attack of the Russian Air Force on the temporary deployment of units of the 72nd mechanized brigade in an agricultural company in the city of Artemovsk (Russian name Baimut, in Donetsk) numbering up to 130 military personnel and eight pieces of equipment and armored vehicles. were destroyed,” Konashenkov said.
He added that “after a strike with high-precision missiles” on the 95th Airborne Assault Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the city of Dzerzhinsk (Toretsk, in Russian, in Donetsk), up to 70 servicemen were destroyed, three artillery pieces and three vehicles were destroyed.
The Ministry of Defense also added that in the Yarkovsky district in eastern Ukraine, the Russian Air Force shot down more than 100 personnel of the 3rd brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine on the territory of a thermal power plant.
“Due to heavy losses, the Zelensky regime [presidente ucraniano] is taking steps to strengthen troops in the Donbass,” Konashenkov said.
According to a Russian official, this forced the Ukrainian authorities to send newly mobilized civilians to the front, who made their debut as part of the 72nd mechanized brigade in the city of Bila Tserkva, south of Kyiv.
The Regional Health Authority said in a statement that “the case was discovered in the municipality of Ponta Delgada on the island of San Miguel and the local health delegation immediately took all the procedures indicated in this context.”
The man claimed to have had “contact in Ponta Delgada, with family members and with his partner residing in San Miguel (tested negative in the last few hours)”, with the Ponta Delgada Health Delegation “determining home isolation” in both cases and physical distancing from other people until all injuries are healed.”
“The person who tested positive was notified of the result on Friday evening, but reported that he had already traveled, also on Friday, from Ponta Delgada to Porto, from where he would soon return to Paris, the city where he officially lives and works. “, – reports the regional health authority, adding that the man has been in San Miguel since July 26.
The regional health authority notified the national authorities of the case so that they could follow it up in the north of the country.
The number of confirmed cases of monkeypox virus infection in Portugal has risen to 710, of which 77 were detected in the last week, the Directorate General of Health (DGS) said.
All regions of continental Portugal and the autonomous region of Madeira reported cases of human infection with monkeypox virus, of which 509 (82.5%) were in the Sanitary Region of Lisbon and Vale do Tejo.
Of the many cases reported to the Epidemiological Surveillance System, the majority are in the 30 to 39 age group and are male, according to the DGS, with four female cases now, two more than a week old.
The presence of the monkeypox virus in Portugal was first detected three months ago on May 3rd, DGS recalls in a weekly report with data collected up to August 3rd.
Portugal continued on August 2, according to WHO, in the group of 10 most affected countries in the world: the United States of America (5,175), Spain (4,298), Germany (2,677), Great Britain (2,546), France (1,955). , Brazil (1369), the Netherlands (879), Canada (803), Portugal (633) and Italy (479).
“I am extremely concerned about yesterday’s explosions [sexta-feira] the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, highlighting the very real risk of a nuclear catastrophe that threatens public health and the environment in Ukraine and beyond,” Grossi warned in a statement released in Vienna, believing that “we are playing with fire.”
Moscow and Kyiv today accused each other of compromising the safety of Europe’s largest Zaporskaya nuclear power plant.
Grossi recalled that, according to the Ukrainian authorities, there was no damage to the reactors and no radiation release, but there were damages to other parts of the nuclear power plant.
The head of the UN nuclear energy agency considered endangering a nuclear power plant “completely unacceptable” and argued that military strikes against it were “playing with fire” and could have “potentially catastrophic consequences.”
“I strongly and urge all parties to provide maximum deterrence in the vicinity of this critical six-reactor nuclear facility,” he wrote.
Grossi again offered the IAEA the opportunity to conduct an on-site verification and “prevent the situation from getting further out of control.”
In June, the IAEA director expressed his readiness to visit the Russian-controlled plant, but Ukraine sharply criticized these plans, saying that the trip of the Argentine UN representative could be interpreted as legitimizing the Russian occupation.
The diplomat insisted that the mission was “decisive” to stabilize the situation at the nuclear power plant.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, through a video message, accused Russia of “recreating an extremely dangerous situation for the whole of Europe”: “they bombed the Zaporskaya nuclear power plant twice.”
Moscow, which has controlled the facility almost since the early days of its military campaign in Ukraine, disputed the claims, calling Kyiv, for its part, a promoter of “nuclear terrorism.”
“Ukraine’s attacks on nuclear facilities can be qualified under international law as acts of nuclear terrorism,” Russian Senator Konstantin Kosachev said on the Telegram social network.
Pro-Russian authorities in the Zaporizhia region, partly occupied by the Russian army, yesterday accused Ukrainian forces of shelling the nuclear power plant and damaging power lines and industrial buildings at the plant.
The attack led to the closure of one of the nuclear units after a power outage.
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