Advertisement

Italian policeman 'shoots dead migrant who stabbed him'

AFP
AFP - [email protected]
Italian policeman 'shoots dead migrant who stabbed him'
The fight broke out in a tent camp which houses seasonal workers on Rosarno, Calabria. This photo was taken in 2010, at a similar camp on the city. Photo: Carlo Hermann/AFP

A policeman in Italy has shot dead a migrant who stabbed him during a brawl in an area renowned for tensions between immigrants, locals and police, media reports said on Wednesday.

Advertisement

The fight reportedly broke out after one migrant accused another of trying to steal from him in the vast tent camp in San Ferdinando, which sits on the outskirts of the southern city of Rosarno.

   
The tent camp houses thousands of people who work largely in the area's orange groves.
   
As two policemen intervened, one of the migrants pulled out a knife and stabbed one of the officers, who shot him, the reports said.
   
There was no information given about the nationalities of the migrants involved.
   
Rosarno is notorious in Italy for the climate of tension between its seasonal workers -- many of whom hail from sub-Saharan Africa - security forces and local residents, and has been the scene of repeated clashes.
   
Two days of unrest in 2010 prompted more than 1,000 Africans to flee the Calabrian town after clashes left 67 people injured, between migrants, police officers and locals.
   
Doctors Without Borders at the time fiercely condemned local attitudes towards the migrants, saying conditions in the Italian tent camps were often worse than in refugee camps in Africa.

More

Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.

Please log in to leave a comment.

See Also