Italian police clear migrant camp

TMP – 15/03/2017

On 1 March about one hundred police and firefighters moved in to clear the remaining 500 migrants from an illegal camp between the towns of San Severo and Rignano Garganico in southern Italy. Around 3,000 migrants were estimated to be living at the Grand Ghetto camp at one point.

Known as the “Great Ghetto”, the shanty town consists of wood, cardboard and plastic shelters and is inhabited by mainly African migrants working on nearby farms in the area. Around 100 migrants refused to leave the camp, fearing their might lose their jobs if they did.

Two days after law enforcement officers began clearing the shanty town a huge fire broke out at the camp, killing two migrants from Mali.

The fire is believed to have started early Friday morning (3 March) and quickly engulfed part of the camp.

The Italian news agency quoted a firefighter as saying that arson had not been excluded. Other investigators said they suspected the blaze could have started accidently by a faulty portable stove being left on as a source of heat.

According to media reports, police and firefighters were at the scene when the fire broke out, but it spread so quickly that the two victims had little time to escape the flames.

The clearance of the camp comes after an investigation in March 2016 raised concerns of criminal activity at the camp. Two other fires have broken out in the camp in recent years.