Attack on Egyptian boys 'xenophobia'

(ANSA) - Rome, August 23 - A violent attack on a group of underage Egyptian asylum seekers that has left a 16-year-old boy in a coma must be condemned as "an episode of intolerable xenophobia", the chair of a parliamentary commission of inquiry into the treatment of migrants said Tuesday.
    "We must severely condemn and not underestimate what happened," said House MP Federico Gelli of the center-left Democratic Party (PD). The teenage victim named only as M.M. remains hospitalized in a coma with a reserved prognosis after three Italian men pistol-whipped and beat him and three friends with a baseball bat in the Sicilian village of San Cono on Saturday afternoon.
    The boy has undergone head surgery to drain a massive haematoma. Two other Egyptians aged 16 and 17 were also slightly injured in the attack. One of them filmed the aggression on his mobile phone, allowing investigators to identify the attackers. Three men, Antonino Spitale, 18, and brothers Giacomo and Davide Severo, 32 and 23, were arrested on Sunday on charges of attempted murder conspiracy, battery, and illegal weapons possession. The Egyptians are residents at a reception centre for unaccompanied minors in San Michele di Ganzaria and were returning home from a weekly market in San Como when the attackers drove up on them in a car.
    The video shows the attackers shouting epithets at the victims, such as "Pieces of sh**, don't come back to town" and "stay away from our women" while the Egyptian boys can be heard pleading with them to stop.
    Police are seeking another two men who remained in the car during the assault.
    "(The incident) must also lead us to reflect on the climate of mutual hatred and distrust in the small Sicilian village, where altercations between Italians and asylum seekers have been ongoing" Gelli added. "This latest episode appears to be just the tip of the iceberg of an atmosphere of revenge... We hope the young immigrant will soon be out of the coma". A judge is expected to confirm the detention of the three attackers later in the day.