The flames flare up. The fire escape stairs, and it seems a paradox, are colored by the bright red of the fire. The sun has already set ad Agrigento when a group of about 65 migrants guests in a reception center trigger the riot: they set fire to mattresses, throw fire extinguishers, pieces of glass, stones and anything else that comes under fire. Police officers are in the sights, forced to stay on the defensive and become the targets of a real stone-throwing.
We are at Moses village of the Sicilian city, shortly after 11 pm. After a day of tensions, the guerrillas are staged by some Tunisians eager to leave the quarantine they are subjected to against the spread of the coronavirus. The images and videos (look) show the most agitated phases of the revolt. The policemen are in the courtyard and surround a secondary entrance on the first floor of the building. There are some migrants on the stairs. Impossible to go up, since some at the beginning of the staircase mattresses they burn in an insurmountable stake. From above the foreigners they continue to fuel the flames, then throw a burning mattress at the agents deployed below, risking turning them into human torches. As reported by a police source al Giornale.it, the immigrants then threw everything against the police: fire extinguishers, pieces of glass and stones. Final balance: three injured in the mobile department of Palermo. Two of them will have it for five days due to various bruises. Some of the “guests”, however, managed to escape despite the quarantine.
“These events occur with alarming frequency – says al Giornale.it Valter Mazzetti, Secretary General of the Trade Union Federation of the State Police – but they are now lived as if they were normal, and this is unacceptable. The current situation in many areas of the Italian territory should force a complete review of the surveillance systems in these structures which are time bombs on the health level above all considering the emergency coronavirus, but also social and public order and safety. What matters most to us is the apparent absolute indifference to the working conditions in which they operate police in this sector, completely abandoned to very high risks without being able to hide that the problem of managing migrants, greatly aggravated by the emergency Covid 19, is totally unloaded on their shoulders. Immigration policy is the responsibility of those who govern us, but it is not permissible to pretend to be able to support it at the cost of the health of workers in uniform ”.
Hard also the comment of Matteo Salvini: “Immigrants in the reception center with positive Covid do not want to respect the quarantine, violent protests and stone-throwing during the day and then set fire to it at night – writes on Facebook – Some manage to escape, two policemen are also injured. But for the government everything is under control and the security decrees are abolished ”.
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