Friday, 25 August 2017

Italian police attack Ethiopian and Eritrean refugee squatters in Rome

Italian police have clashed with refugees in the capital city, triggering an outcry among international human rights groups.

Police dressed in anti-riot gear used water cannon and batons on Thursday to clear hundreds of mostly Ethiopian and Eritrean refugees who had occupied a square near Rome’s main train station.
Police said two people were arrested and more than a dozen others injured in the dawn operation.

They said the move was necessary because the refugees occupying the square had refused to accept city-organized lodging and were using hazardous cooking gas canisters and other flammable materials at the public location.

The operation came days after city authorities evicted some 800 refugees housed in a nearby building since 2013.

On Twitter, Doctors Without Borders posted pictures of the police operation and protested the “indiscriminate use of violence.”

The organization said there were no ambulances nearby to help, and that their volunteers treated 13 injured people, including an elderly woman who fainted after being hit by a water jet.


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