An Otrage in Italy After a Street Seller Was Killed

Video footage of a Nigerian street seller being attacked and killed in broad daylight in Italy has sparked a row over far-right parties’ xenophobic tactics in the country’s election campaign.

Alika Ogorchukwu, 39, was killed on Friday in the centre of Civitanova Marche, a beach town on the Adriatic Sea. According to Italian media reports and witnesses, the attack began after Ogorchukwu made “insistent” requests to sell handkerchiefs and “for pocket change”.

Video recorded by onlookers who apparently did not attempt to intervene shows the attacker wrestling Ogorchukwu on to his back on the pavement as the victim tried to fight back. The assailant allegedly grabbed a crutch that the vendor used to walk and struck him down.

A 32-year-old man from Salerno, in the Campania region, was arrested on suspicion of murder.

The attack was also recorded on several surveillance cameras. Matteo Luconi, the chief of the flying squad in Macerata, said: “Witnesses will be heard and camera images viewed to clarify the dynamics of the beating.”