After three nights of tension and vandalism, largely conducted by migrant youths, the last several hours have passed peacefully in the Corvetto neighbourhood.
Corvetto was in turmoil after the death of Ramy Elgaml, the 19-year-old who died in a scooter accident.
Elgaml was a passenger on the night between Saturday and Sunday, during a chase with the Carabinieri.
Youths set fire to rubbish containers and defaced property over the last three nights.
On Tuesday, in addition to the driver of the scooter, a 22-year-old Tunisian, now under guard in hospital, the Carabiniere driving the pursuing car was also placed under investigation.
Historically, demonstrations have already occurred in the outer-suburban neighbourhood, which for years has been a difficult area of the city due to degradation, illegal building and concentration of poverty.
Two nights of riots in the Corvetto neighborhood of Milan, Italy over the death of Ramy Elgaml, killed in a motorcycle crash after a police chase on Saturday. pic.twitter.com/ehPamr43qm
— 3jane.tv (@3janetv) November 27, 2024
A large deployment of law enforcement forces is guarding the streets around Piazza Gabriele Rosa while investigations into the vandalism and fires continue.
In the meantime, after Tuesday’s request for validation of the arrest of the 21-year-old Montenegrin, a preliminary hearing by an investigating judge is expected Wednesday.
It’s expected to bring new suspects after the analysis of the video footage of the rioters, of whom there were at least a hundred.
Deputy Prime Minister and Transport Minister and anti-migrant League party leader Matteo Salvini said, “the main problem here and elsewhere is with second-generation teen gangs, it’s a full-blown emergency across the country”.
Lombardy Governor Attilio Fontana, also of the League, said “the violence is reminiscent of the banlieues in Paris, the situation is very concerning”.
Elgaml’s father said, “We disassociate ourselves from the violence, Italy is our country.”
“We don’t want revenge but to know what happened.”
Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala, who invited Elgaml’s father and girlfriend to the city council later this week, said Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi would shortly visit the city amid concern unrest.
“I understand that the Right likes to foment these situations, but I am here today to continue to say that Milan will remain a welcoming city,” said Sala, a leading member of the centre-left Democratic Party.
Catholic migrant charity Migrantes said Wednesday the real migrant emergency was not increasingly unruly teen gangs but rather the police system used to treat migrants in Italy.
“The phenomenon of teen gangs affects some situations,” Monsignor Gian Carlo Perego, president of the Migrantes Foundation, told ANSA.
“Italians and not only foreigners [create teen gangs], and the real national emergency is the educational problem, with a school dropout rate much higher than the European average.
“The real emergency is that too much money has been put into security and nothing into integration,” Perego went on.
“The real emergency is the police system with which the migrant issue is addressed.
“The real emergency is to change the narrative and start processes where citizenship is an important element because if a person feels like an outsider, it is not good.”
ANSA