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6 Africans injured in 'racial' drive-by shooting spree in Italy

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Marc-Henri Maisonhaute and Catherine Marciano, RomeAgence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2018/tvpatrol/02/01/injured.jpg"/><figcaption>Healthcare personnel take care of an injured person after being shot by gun fire from a vehicle in Macerata, Italy, Saturday. Reuters stringer</figcaption></figure></div>MACERATA, Italy - A shaven-headed far-right supporter suspected of wounding 6 Africans Saturday in brazen drive-by shootings in central Italy was arrested, as the country&#x27;s interior minister said &quot;racial hatred&quot; had prompted the attack.After the morning assault in the town of Macerata, the suspect got out of his car, allegedly made a fascist salute with a tricolor Italian flag draped over his shoulders and shouted &quot;Viva Italia&quot;, or &quot;Long Live Italy&quot;, and &quot;Italy for Italians,&quot; media reports said.The wounded included 5 men and 1 woman from Ghana, Mali and Nigeria, the Agi news agency said. It came a day after a Nigerian man was arrested in the town over the gruesome murder of a teenage Italian girl.Interior Minister Marco Minniti said the attack was part of a culture &quot;of right-wing extremism with clear reference to fascism and Nazism&quot; and deplored that the sole link between the victims was &quot;the color of their skin&quot;.He said the &quot;criminal act&quot; was &quot;prepared in advance&quot;.The man allegedly opened fire in 8 areas in the town and also targeted the office of the center-left Democratic Party in a 2-hour terror spree in the sleepy town of 43,000 people, press reports said.&quot;Six people were injured and all of them are foreigners,&quot; said town mayor Romano Carancini. Police confirmed in a tweet that &quot;the wounded persons were of foreign nationality&quot;, adding that the &quot;presumed author of the attack is Italian&quot;.One victim was seriously injured in the thorax, press reports said. The other 5 had lesser injuries.A Nigerian man who was shot in the thigh while buying cigarettes on the street, telling a television channel from his hospital bed that he was in great pain, adding: &quot;It&#x27;s very serious.&quot;Television footage showed the suspect being arrested at the town&#x27;s war memorial. Police also posted a photo of the capture.Authorities identified the suspected shooter as Luca Traini, 28. He is a member of the far-right anti-immigration Northern League party and had run in local elections last year.Media reports said police found a gun in the man&#x27;s vehicle, a black Alfa Romeo.&quot;Someone who shoots is a delinquent, irrespective of the colour of his skin,&quot; said Northern league chief Matteo Salvini, in full campaign mode ahead of legislative elections on March 4.&quot;I&#x27;m in a hurry to be in government to bring back security, social justice and serenity to Italy,&quot; he said. <div>&#x27;HATE WILL NOT DIVIDE US&#x27;</div>Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni meanwhile made a pitch for unity, saying: &quot;Hate and violence will not divide us.&quot;The attack comes a day after a Nigerian asylum-seeker and drug dealer was arrested in Macerata over the gruesome killing of an 18-year-old Italian woman whose dismembered body was discovered in suitcases earlier this week.Police found the clothes of the victim, Pamela Mastropietro, in the house of the 29-year-old Nigerian as well as a bloodstained knife.However, no official link has been made between the 2 incidents.Italians head to the polls in national elections next month, with immigration shaping up to be a key issue.The country is a favored landing point on Europe&#x27;s southern coastline for migrants making the perilous journey across the Mediterranean, often aboard unseaworthy boats, to enter the continent.But 2017 was a turning point for Italy: the country went from large-scale arrivals in the first 6 months to a sharp drop-off, thanks to controversial agreement between the EU and Libya.Some 119,000 people landed in Italy last year, down 35 percent on 2016.The Northern League is part of a populist coalition tipped to do well in the elections.According to opinion polls, the alliance between ex-prime minister Silvio Berlusconi&#x27;s center-right Forza Italia (Go Italy), the post-fascist Fratelli d&#x27;Italia (Italian Brothers) and the Northern League leads with more than 35 percent ahead of the March 4 vote.

A shaven-headed far-right supporter suspected of wounding 6 Africans Saturday in brazen drive-by shootings in central Italy was arrested, as the country's interior minister said "racial hatred" had prompted the attack.

A shaven-headed far-right supporter suspected of wounding 6 Africans Saturday in brazen drive-by shootings in central Italy was arrested, as the country's interior minister said "racial hatred" had prompted the attack.

6 Africans injured in 'racial' drive-by shooting spree in Italy

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6 Africans injured in 'racial' drive-by shooting spree in Italy

Marc-Henri Maisonhaute and Catherine Marciano,

RomeAgence France-Presse

Published Feb 04, 2018 09:11 AM PHT

Read More:

Italy

shooting

crime

racism

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