February 10, 2018: Thousands of people protest against racism and fascism during a national demonstration in Macerata, Italy. Danilo Balducci/Press Assocation. All rights reservedLast Saturday in the centre of the Italian city of Macerata, a young man affiliated with the extreme-right opened fire on Gideon Azeke, Jennifer Otiotio, Mahmadou Touré, Wilson Kofi, Festus Omagbon and Omar Fadera. They were singled out because of the colour of their skin and their African origins.
Several days prior to the attack, several suitcases had been found in Macerata containing the mutilated body of a young female drug addict, Pamela Mastropietro. The principal suspects of the grisly murder at present are two Nigerian drug dealers. The gunman who perpetrated Saturday’s attacks said in his confession that he’d gone out hunting black people to avenge the young girl’s death, and with the intention of killing every immigrant selling drugs. The media were quick to portray the attacks as the acts of a mentally unstable individual or as crimes of passion, but the environment in which the attacks occurred weakens the case for either of these explanations.
On the contrary, rather than avenging the young woman’s murder, the gunman sought to send a clear message to his compatriots: immigration is a threat to all of us, particularly for the most vulnerable members of society.
