Italian Athlete wounded in Alleged Racist Attack

A black Italian athlete named Daisy Osakue, 22 has been wounded in an alleged racist attack, Daily Mail reports.

Osakue was stoned with an egg by ‘racist’ attackers in Italy as she was crossing the road in the northern city of Turin. The attack happens to be the latest in the recent alarming rise in racist violence in the country.

Osakue whose parents are originally from Nigeria, holds an Italian citizenship and was expected to compete for Italy in the European Athletics Championships next week. Unfortunately, it is uncertain if she would be able to compete in the track-and-field championships because eggshell fragments injured her cornea.

According to BBC, Osakue was quoted as saying: “They didn’t want to attack me, as Daisy. They wanted to hit me as a young woman of colour. That’s an area used by prostitutes and I was mistaken for one of them.”

She pointed out that there were other people in the vicinity at the time but she was singled out.

In a recent interview with an Italian news agency ANSA, Osakue referred to right-wing political rhetoric targeting foreigners.

“I’m sorry to say it, but I think we’re dealing with racism.”

“They have very strong power of influence on mass media,” she said. “So if they say ‘it’s their (the migrants) fault, they steal our jobs, they come here and they destroy everything … obviously people will start thinking that they are right,” she said.

Daily Mail reports that the Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini and leader of the anti-migrant League party has wished Osakue a speedy recovery while also dismissing as ‘nonsense’ concerns about a ‘racism emergency in Italy.’

Italian President Sergio Mattarella according to Daily Mail, has however declared in a recent speech that “Italy can’t resemble the Wild West, where someone can buy a rifle and from a balcony shoot, striking a year-old baby, ruining her health and her future.”

Photo Credit: @daisyosakue