Rabat – A driver in Biandrate, Italy intentionally and fatally ran over Adil Belakhdim, a 37-year-old of Moroccan origin, Italian news outlets said.
The driver’s car dragged the Moroccan man, who is a trade unionist, for about 20 meters, in Biandrate, in the Novara region of Italy.
The incident took place when Belakhdim along with other logistics workers was demonstrating in front of the entrance to a Lidl supermarket in Biandrate.
The demonstrators were condemning the working conditions in the local branch of German supermarket chain Lidl.
Moroccan television channel 2M said that Belakhdim prevented the driver from entering the store, a demand that the perpetrator rejected.
The driver then deliberately ran over the Moroccan man, hitting him and killing him after dragging him for 20 meters.
Despite the quick intervention of ambulance services, medical staff could not save him.
Father of 2, Belakhdim is known for his union work as a member of Cobas, an independent worker organization. The victim’s colleagues’ reaction was to observe a moment of silence and vowing to go on a strike from today, Friday, until next Sunday.
According to Italian newspaper Affaritaliani.it, the driver also hit two other protesters, injuring them.
The driver fled the crime scene before subsequently being arrested on the nearby highway.
“What happened in front of the gates of a warehouse in Biandrate, near Novara, is very serious. The tragic death of trade unionist Adil Belakhdim took place in circumstances that need to be clarified immediately,” said the Minister of Labor, Andrea Orlando.
The motive of the driver is still unknown. The killing of the Moroccan victim, however, comes amid protests in Spain following the heinous murder of Moroccan migrant Younes.
A gunman killed Younes in cold blood on a cafe terrace in Murcia, Spain last week. He shot the Moroccan man three times in the chest. The perpetrator killed Younes after shouting racist and anti-Moroccan slurs.
