Italy arrests 14 after unrest at migrant detention centre

Rome: Italian police said on Monday they had arrested 14 people after disorder broke out at a detention centre for migrants near Rome following the suicide of a young man being held there.

Two police officers and a soldier were injured in the disturbances on Sunday when inmates managed to force their way out into a car park, having set fire to mattresses and thrown other objects, police said in a statement.

Officers fired tear gas as they struggled to regain control of the Ponte Galeria facility, a holding centre for undocumented migrants, which is close to the city’s main airport at Fiumicino.

The trouble was sparked after the discovery of the body of a 21-year-old man from Guinea who had taken his own life.

Italy’s Coalition for Freedom and Civil Rights (CILD) said migrants held in such centres were being denied access to proper healthcare and legal defence.

Police unions complained that security was inadequate and they feared more serious consequences in the future.

“The repatriaton centres are real time bombs,” said Fabio Conesta, secretary general of the Mosap police officers’ union.

Dealing with migration is a major challenge for Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government which pledged a new partnership with Africa at a summit last week.

Some 157,600 boat migrants reached Italy last year, the largest number since 2016, undermining Meloni’s electoral pledge to halt the flow of unauthorised arrivals.