Nigerian Embassy to Italy
Italy’s far-right coalition is distancing itself from the sort of vile racism that led to the murder of a handicapped Black man with his own crutch in northern Italy on Friday. Alika Ogorchukwu, a Nigerian peddler, was beaten to death as onlookers videotaped the horrific incident in the center of Civitanova, not far from where a white supremacist went on a shooting rampage “hunting” Black immigrants in 2018.
The alleged perpetrator, Filippo Claudio Giuseppe Ferlazzo, 32, says Ogorchukwu touched his girlfriend’s arm as he tried to sell them trinkets near the train station. Ferlazzo, whose political affiliation has not been clarified, then chased Ogorchukwu, 39, down the street until he fell. According to multiple videos of the scene, Ferlazzo then beat Ogorchukwu—first with the victim’s crutch and then with his bare hands—until he dies.
Several people called police while the 4-minute beating took place, but no one did anything to try to pull Ferlazzo off the Black man. When police arrived, they immediately arrested Felazzo and called an ambulance for Ogorchukwu—who was, by then, dead.