Ventimiglia, truck driver discovers migrants hidden on the truck. How he beats them with straps –

A group of very young migrants, including some girls, were surprised and hit with a belt by a truck driver in Ventimiglia, the driver of the vehicle on board of which regarding ten foreign boys were hiding while trying to cross the border between Italy and France. This is what can be seen in a video, which has gone viral, that was apparently filmed with a cell phone inside the truck stop of the Ligurian border town, where trucks stop before setting off. In the images, you can see the back door of a tractor-trailer open and then the driver, holding a belt, make the migrants get off the trailer one at a time and hit several girls once they were outside.

#Ventimiglia #Italia This morning at the truck stop a truck driver knocked down a dozen people with a steel-ended strap. #migrants all of African origin who had climbed onto the trailer of his truck, probably to try to emigrate to #France . pic.twitter.com/FCWlefVqDb

— Eleana Elefante (@EleanaElefante) July 15, 2024

“These are people in transit, who use any means to cross the border,” Christian Papini, director of Caritas Ventimiglia, told LaPresse. “The night before they had slept in the Pad, the widespread reception point created in the city to provide assistance to those arriving in Ventimiglia.” The Pad, a structure set up next to the city station, is the only point of reference for medical support or to provide help to migrants since the Campo Roja reception center was closed. “In the last 2 days,” Papini concluded, “we have registered an increase in incoming flows, the Pad has 20 places and is full at the moment.” Over the past summers, there have also been increases in migrants camping in the bed of the Roja river, in via Tenda and in the cemetery area, where dozens of people take refuge while waiting to try to cross the border, often helped by humanitarian groups and associations that serve meals and take care of basic needs.