By: V4 Agency
A man from Ghana boasting an extensive criminal record threatened passers-by with a knife at Rome’s Termini Station, and a thirty-year-old Iraqi national attacked and stabbed an officer in the thigh using shards of glass in Ventimiglia. Migrants living in Milan are now selling their stolen goods at an illegal market.
Termini station and the surrounding streets suffer from a worsening state of neglect. The train station is Italy’s largest railway node, located near the popular tourist destination of Monti district. However, the area has been overrun by illegal migrants and gangs who often engage in trading and trafficking drugs.
The knife-wielding migrant has long criminal history. He was once arrested for violence against officials, and also for vandalising statues that symbolise the Christian religion on multiple occasions.
Although authorities had rejected the asylum request of the Ghanian national, the consular services of Gambia, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Ghana have failed to initiate expulsion procedures, so the illegal migrant’s repatriation could not go ahead.
On social media, Giorgia Meloni described the incident as “the usual madness in Rome. Police were forced to open fire to stop a Ghanian national brandishing a knife at Termini station. This is just another act of crime at the capital’s central railway station, which has turned into a playground for criminals and drug dealers due to the failure of institutions to take action. My solidarity and support is with law enforcement officers,” she wrote.
“Thousands of tourists arrive at Termini Station every day, so Rome cannot look or feel like they were in a jungle. The capital needs to become safe again. Thanks to the police for their extraordinary work in maintaining public security,” MEP Antonio Tajani wrote on Twitter.
Authorities registered another violent attack by an irregular migrant further out from Rome, near the French border. The migrant stabbed the deputy chief at the local police station in the thigh with a broken glass as he was trying to intervene a fight between an Iraqi and a Sudanese migrant.
The 30-year-old migrant hailing from Iraq was arrested and will face trial for violence against an official.
The situation also appears to be deteriorating in Milan, where illegal migrants have set up their own marketplace to trade in stolen goods.
Riccardo Truppo, a member of the Brothers of Italy (Fdl) party paid a visit to the illegal market near Viale Puglie, accompanied by MP Attilio Belluci.
They pointed out that despite a number of reports to the municipality, the administration had done nothing to eradicate the illegal market.
“As a citizen, I regret that there are no inspections here. There are dozens of illegal vendors on the street, yet no one is doing anything. In fact, the problem is that only those who try to comply with the rules suffer the consequences,” Riccardo Truppo added.
“We had to document the situation at the market with videos and photos to produce evidence. I call on every citizen not to support the violations of the law by their silence. Everyone who can should document and report these cases,” Mr Truppo said.