Shops lowered their shutters
or turned off their lights in signs of mourning Friday as some
1,000 people marched through downtown Pisa in memory of
Bangladeshi waiter Zakir Hossain, who was beaten to death on the
street Sunday night.
Police on Thursday released CCTV footage of the fatal
attack, in which Hossain was hassled by a group of four men and
then assaulted by one of them.
The four suspects fled the scene aboard a car, and later
attempted to attack two more people in two different central
Pisa locations, police said.
They have been identified as Tunisian national Hamrouni
Hamza, 27, who threw the fatal punch and stands accused of
voluntary manslaughter.
He flew out of Milan's Malpensa airport on Tuesday evening.
Italian national Simone Tabbita, 22, and a 16-year-old
Tunisian who is a relative of Hamza have been charged with
aiding and abetting the elder Hamza.
Another 20-year-old who was part of the group is not being
charged because he did not participate in the assault and did
not intervene to free Hamza when witnesses tried to stop the
attack on Hossain.
The march was led by Pisa Mayor Marco Filippeschi,
Bangladeshi Ambassador Shahdat Hossain, and the mayor of
Cascina, where the four attackers live.
"This act of senseless violence is astonishing for its
gratuity and utter absence of respect for others," said Casina
Mayor Alessio Antonelli.
Filippeschi praised the Bangladeshi community's
"intelligent and positive attitude" in the face of this attack
on one of their own.
"But we were not surprised, given the more than positive
relations with the city, which a criminal act cannot undermine".
The ambassador thanked "Pisa for the solidarity and the
investigation".
Other participants included politicians from the
center-left Democratic Party and center-right Forza Italia, as
well as smaller leftist parties Communist Refoundation and Left
Ecology and Liberty (SEL), trade union representatives, and
leftist intellectual Adriano Sofri.
The Bangladeshi community asked everyone to observe a
minute of silence to "pray for Zakir's soul and to invoke
forgiveness for his aggressors".
The march stopped by the spot where Hossain was killed,
where people have been leaving flowers since Thursday, and ended
at the office of the prefect, who came out and shook hands with
Bangladeshi community leaders.
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