By Omar Bah
Authorities in Rome have arrested 14 migrants from The Gambia and eight other countries on suspicion of being involved in trouble at a repatriation center following the death of a migrant from Guinea-Conakry.
After the bodies were found Sunday morning, migrants in the center began setting fire to mattresses and throwing objects at law enforcement officers, according to Italian police.
The immigrants used a mobile home to push both units. One group approached parked police cars and set fire to one, while another group entered a room where law enforcement officers kept personal items and seized and destroyed them. The suspects destroyed eight video cameras, police said.
Police used tear gas to quell the riot, which reportedly continued into the night, leading to three officers being injured.
The suspects are from Morocco, Pakistan, Guinea, Cuba, Chile, Senegal, Tunisia, Nigeria and Gambia, police said. An Italian lawmaker who visited the center on Sunday said a 21-year-old Guinean immigrant suspended it after expressing his frustration at being unable to return home to join his family.
This center is a “black hole for justice and humanity,” MP Riccardo Magi said on La Repubblica TV, calling for its closure. Most of the people who are incarcerated here will never be brought back. When contacted for comment, Ousman Toray, an Italian-born official based in The Gambia, said he had not received any information about the arrests.
