LONDON: A video showing a driver lashing a group of migrants who hid in the back of his lorry to cross into France has sparked outrage in Italy.
The video, which went viral on social media, shows an unidentified driver, believed to be from Eastern Europe, shouting at and hitting a group of Eritrean migrants, mostly women, with a makeshift whip.
The incident was filmed by a passerby at a traffic center in Ventimiglia, in the Liguria region near the French border.
Police are investigating the incident but have not released further information.
The episode has ignited a nationwide debate, with Save the Children Italy condemning the images as “inhuman and demeaning.”
“Children, adolescents, and thousands of migrants arriving in Europe deserve a system that recognizes their needs, treats them with respect and dignity, and protects them from danger,” the association said in a statement, criticizing the EU’s recently approved Pact on Migration and Asylum.
According to the Italian newspaper Secolo XIX, the group had been welcomed the evening before the incident at a refugee center run by Catholic charity Caritas and spent the night at the “widespread reception point” in Ventimiglia.
Following the incident, the migrants returned to the center, where they recounted what had happened.
