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Mass demonstration in Italy against African migrants

Nov 17, 2015, 10:28 AM | Article By: Alagie Jinkang in Italy

On Saturday, a large number of demonstrators took to the streets of Torino, one of the cities in Italy with a high concentration of foreigners, against immigrants.

Between the hours of 7-10 a.m., people gathered in Via Giordano Bruno, the locality known to accommodate many migrants and refugees from Africa, calling for the removal of migrants and the refugees out of EX-MOI, the Italian government building.

The demonstrators were claiming that the migrants “are illegal and do illegal activities.” However, they were stopped by the police.

Our correspondent in Italy said the demonstrators were expressing their condolences in the wake of the Friday terror attacks in France that left at least 129 people dead.

Many documented and undocumented Gambians live among many other African migrants in the former Olympic village, commonly known as EX-MOI.

The houses were abandoned after the 2006 Olympic Games hosted in Italy, so the migrants in great need of accommodation rushed to “illegally” occupy the place.

Many right-wing parties are against the migrants’ occupation of the abandoned buildings, condemning it as “illegal” and calling for their eviction.

Our correspondent said that on several occasions, the migrants at EX-MOI were accused of being a source of nuisance to their neighbours, as they are said to be engaged in “illegal activities”.

The demonstration on Saturday centered on migrants as the source of social evils such as terrorism and extremism.