Migrant centre riot leads to 14 arrests in Italy


Our Foreign Staff
Mon, 5 February 2024 

A riot at a migrant detention centre near Rome, which broke out after the suicide of a young man being held there, has resulted in the arrest of 14 people.

Two police officers and a soldier were injured in the disturbance on Sunday when detainees set fire to mattresses, threw other objects, and forced their way out into a car park, Italian police said in a statement.

Officers fired tear gas as they struggled to regain control of the Ponte Galeria facility, a holding centre for undocumented migrants, which is close to the city’s main airport at Fiumicino.

The trouble began after the discovery of the body of a 21-year-old man from Guinea who had taken his own life.

The Ponte Galeria detention centre near Rome is being used to house undocumented migrants - REUTERS

Italy’s Coalition for Freedom and Civil Rights (CILD) said migrants held in such centres were being denied access to proper healthcare and legal defence.

Police unions complained that security was inadequate and they feared more serious consequences in the future.

“The repatriation centres are real time bombs,” said Fabio Conesta, secretary general of the Mosap police officers’ union.

Dealing with migration is a major challenge for Giorgia Meloni’s government, which pledged a new partnership with Africa at a summit last week.

Some 157,600 migrants reached Italy last year by boat, the largest number since 2016, undermining Ms Meloni’s electoral pledge to halt the flow of unauthorised arrivals.