A Ghanian student was stopped and taken to the commander of the vigili urbani of Parma with the accusation of drug dealing. An article appeared today on the La Reppublica website reporting the event in detail, in the words of Emmanuel, who had contacted the press.
Stopped by people in civilian clothes, he spoke of running away, frightened, and being followed. Handcuffed and beaten, he was taken by car to the commander of the vigili urbani.
“I saw two men behind me talking on their mobiles, then another man approached them. Suddenly the man on his own came up to me without saying anything, without identifying himself, and took my hands. The other two ran up and surrounded me. I was scared, but got free and fled. They kicked my head and began to lead me away, then they handcuffed me and one punched me in the face.” He added: “I think the agents used clubs, or maybe they were bottles of water… I don’t know.”
During the arrest he was interrogated, stripped, searched and detained in a cell - already sadly famous for the photo of the prostitute abandoned on the ground after being stopped by the vigili - and compelled to sign a confession saying he had been in possession of hashish.
“They made me go in and out, in and out of the cell. I was scared. The made me sign it, but I denied it again and again. I wanted to call home.”
The medical report carried out after his release speaks of a number of injuries, also visible on the boy’s face. As well as the punches, he also had to endure the insults “move it, negro!”; and had not been allowed to call home to notify his parents.
His father, who had only been contacted after many hours, was told that his son had got a black eye from falling over. “But how did he get in this state? The municipal police told me it was because he fell over. But you can’t get a black eye from falling over. So I asked my son if he had been beaten up. All he said was ‘yes’.” His father was enraged and asked for an explanation. “But when I spoke out and and mentioned the word ‘abuse’, they motioned their hands for me to leave - they said “go away” and threw everyone out”. On Emmanuel’s release, at around 11.15pm, an envelope with the stamp of the Commune of Parma was delivered into his father’s hands, with the words “Emmanuel negro” written on the envelope.
In response to the controversy, the Commune are still maintaining that the boy got the bruises from falling over, and the word negro on the envelope had been added by his family.
The morning before the news had spread, the councillor had declared the following terrible words through a press release: “Today the Councillor at the Security Costantino Monteverdi thanked the agents of the municipal police who, after a few days of surveillance, have arrested a pusher who they caught in the act in the Eridania park. It was an operation of exemplary professionalism, with a just outcome, especially as there were also some minors involved. It has been an example for the citizens, and I am satisfied for two reasons: for having responded to a real problem facing the park’s visitors, and secondly because the municipal police have demonstrated once again that they are on top of the duties they face.”
Emmanual’s charges were dropped a few hours later. He is now being accused of resisting an official and of not having supplied his name and address; but yet another account of the abuse by the municipal police of Parma has provoked a scandal and calls for an explanation from Mayor Vignali, Council member for Safety and the Municipal Police.
The National Office Against Racial Discrimination of the Ministry for Equal Opportunities has opened an enquiry to shed light on the episode. Giusto Catania, European politician for the Communist Party, has announced an investigation by the European Commission. “The case of Emmanuel Bonsu Foster, a 22 year-old Ghanian student seized outside his school and then beaten, insulted and stamped on yesterday afternoon by seven agents from the municipal police of Parma is the result of the climate of widespread intolerance in the country.” In the last few hours a number of national politicians have joined them.
So in the space of a few weeks the municipal police of Parma is once again at the centre of attention... And this is the city which demands the increase of the powers of the mayor and his police - a perfect example of the Charter of Parma.
These episodes are countless confirmations of the failure of the city’s model of safety, and of the violence which can be unleashed when the government and local administrators together adopt a rhetoric of fear towards migrants, whoever does not behave according to the rigidly determined laws dictated by decorum and corporal discipline, or wants to express creativity and live an autonomous lifestyle, or who doesn’t want to be contained within the predetermined boundaries. The powers requested by the centre-left and centre-right mayors, the transformation of the municipal police’s urban street guards, and the propagation of the forms of detention and control result in this situation, as demonstrated by the events in Parma.
These are not the cities that we want.
Elisabetta ferri, Progetto Melting Pot Europa
translated by Lauren Levine
