CANELLI – The death of Nafugi Mannehthe 18-year-old boy originally from Gambia killed on April 30th in the center of Canelli during a traffic jam brawl between asylum seekersis raising several questions about how the situation was handled and whether what happened could have been avoided.
What happened
Although the investigations are still ongoing, it is quite clear what happened. A fight between asylum seekers from Gambia and asylum seekers from Pakistan escalated, a bicycle chain was used as a whip to hit the victim and cost the young Nafugi Manneh his life. It will be up to the investigators to define who was holding that chain and how he used it (we know that a 20-year-old boy was arrested for voluntary manslaughter immediately after the events and that another 24-year-old Pakistani migrant was reported for aggravated brawling).
How the conflict came about
What we need to understand at this point is how the clash came about and whether this could have been avoided. The Cooperative that manages the Cas of Cassinasco, which we tried to contact, does not release statements, but it seems clear that tension between the two groups had been high for days, maybe a week. The reasons could be small disagreements within the structure or something more serious, what matters is that the tension was evident.
Could anything have been done to prevent the fight?
This is what Paolo Hutter, President of the Eco delle Cities Association, which deals with, among other things, asks himself management of asylum seekers. “We know that the tension was evident for a week – Hutter tells us – Is it possible that it couldn’t be defused? Has anything been done to prevent it?”
Then there is another question. Excluding those arrested, the two groups would have returned to the CAS center in Cassinasco on the evening of April 30, with the risk that the clash would flare up again. The transfer of the Gambian applicants only took place yesterday, 2 May.
“Has anyone thought about moving them right away? The cooperative, the prefecture, the carabinieri?” asks Hutter, who then analyzes the underlying issue. “There is certainly a problem of scarce resources, but it is likely that in this case there was also a problem of managing these resources”
Ultimately what needs to be understood is whether what happened could have been avoided and whether everything necessary was done so that a second tragedy did not occur in the following hours.
