Amnesty International has urged the Polish authorities to carry out a prompt, independent and impartial investigation into the killing of a 36-year-old Nigerian trader by a police officer on 23 May at a market in Warsaw’s Praga district. There are contradictory reports about the circumstances that led to the death.

In the wake of two days of violent clashes between migrant workers and local residents in the town of Rosarno in Southern Italy, which led to over a thousand migrants fleeing or being removed from their homes, Amnesty International is concerned that the Italian authorities are failing to protect the economic and social rights of migrants and protect them against a rising tide of xenophobia and racially-motivated violence. Amnesty International is also concerned that many of the displaced migrants, most of whom come from sub-Saharan Africa, remain vulnerable to further human rights violations.

The clashes in Rosarno were sparked when two migrant workers were shot with airguns in a drive-by shooting on the night of Thursday 7 January. Following the shooting, several hundred migrants marched through the town to protest against their discriminatory treatment and poor living conditions, setting fire to cars and clashing with riot police. The next day, local residents set up an informal road-block and occupied the local town hall in protest. In a number of separate incidents, two migrants were reportedly beaten with iron bars, five deliberately run over and a further two injured by shot-gun pellets. In total, 53 persons were hospitalised, including 21 migrants, 14 local residents and 18 police officers. Order was only restored in the town after the departure of most of the migrant workers, hundreds of whom were removed from the town by the authorities. Following their departure, many of the temporary shelters they had set up in abandoned buildings around the town were demolished by the authorities.