THE AFRICAN COURIER. Reporting Africa and its Diaspora! The African Courier is an international magazine published in Germany to report on Africa and the Diaspora African experience. The first issue of the bimonthly magazine appeared on the newsstands on 15 February 1998. The African Courier is a communication forum for European-African political, economic and cultural exchanges, and a voice for Africa in Europe.
An Italian man shot an African street vendor to death on Monday 5 March in Florence, one of Italy’s most popular tourist destinations, police said.
Police arrested the 66-year-old Italian who they said had fired six pistol shots at the 54-year-old Senegalese man as he was selling leather bags, umbrellas and trinkets near a bridge in the city.
However, police said a racial motivation for the Florence shooting had been ruled out.
According to the Italian press agency ANSA, which cited the police, the alleged shooter, “left his house Monday morning intending to kill himself … but then decided to shoot anyone who came his way in order to be taken to prison and not weigh on his family anymore.” A farewell note to his daughter has reportedly been found in his home.
Last month an Italian man with links to anti-immigrant party La Lega opened fire on African migrants in the city of Macerata, wounding six before he was captured, in what police said was a racially motivated attack.
In December 2011, an Italian gunman killed two street sellers from Senegal and wounded three other people in a racially-motivated shooting spree in Florence before committing suicide. Gianluca Casseri, 50, who Italian officials described as a right-wing extremist, parked his car in the crowded Dalmazia square at lunch time on the fateful day, got out and started shooting with a large pistol, witnesses reported.
Austin Ohaegbu with agency
