Rome Police Arrests 14 African Migrants After the Death of a Guinean

Police in Rome arrested 14 migrants from nine countries on Monday for alleged involvement in unrest at a repatriation center following the death of a Guinean migrant.

After the body was discovered Sunday morning, migrants at the shelter began setting fire to mattresses and throwing objects at Rome police officers. The migrants used telephone booths to demolish two partitions.

One group attacked parked police vehicles, setting one on fire, while another group entered a building where law officers kept personal things and stole them. According to the Rome Police, the culprits also destroyed eight video cameras.

The police officers deployed tear gas to quell the unrest, which lasted into the evening. Three officers were injured. The accused come from Morocco, Pakistan, Guinea, Cuba, Chile, Senegal, Tunisia, Nigeria, and Gambia.

An Italian leader of the liberal party, Riccardo Magi, who visited the Ponte Galeria detention centre on Sunday, claimed the 21-year-old Guinean migrant died by suicide after expressing anguish at not being allowed to return home to his family.

“In most cases, these people will never be deported, because there are no bilateral repatriation treaties with their countries of origin. So, they remain stuck in these places that are worse than a prison for a very long time,” he said.

Meanwhile, the current government has extended the detention time up to eighteen months with no certainty for repatriation.

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Mayowa Durosinmi

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Mayowa Durosinmi is a Nigerian investigative reporter for West Africa Weekly with reports focusing on politics, human rights, security and health in West Africa and the Sahel region.

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