Women "whipped"

Truck driver hit migrant women with a belt

Footage shows the truck driver using a loading belt with a steel clamp to attack the terrified women and force them to get out of the truck.(Bild: Instagram.com/Soferi3.5tone)

A lorry driver in the northern Italian border town of Ventimiglia has beaten 13 migrant women of African origin with a loading belt turned into a whip. The women had hidden in the trailer of his truck to get to France. 

The incident took place in a truck parking lot in Ventimiglia. A video of the brutal scene quickly went viral on social media and sparked outrage in Italy.

Women beaten with a loading belt
Footage shows the truck driver, who had discovered the 13 women from Eritrea in the trailer of his truck, attacking them with a loading belt with a steel clamp and forcing them to get out. The migrants reacted in fear.

The women had recently arrived in Ventimiglia and were being cared for by the local Caritas organization. They are said to have been looking for a way to get to France.

Man threatensto press charges
 Police are currently investigating to identify the Eastern European truck driver. He is facing charges. "If he had been caught with the women on board, he could have been charged with aiding and abetting migration in France. But the way he treated the women is absolutely unacceptable," Italian investigators reported on Tuesday, according to the Milan daily "Corriere della Sera".

The deputy director of Italian Caritas, Paolo Valente, expressed his outrage. "The video is impressive because of the desperation of the women and the arbitrary violence of the truck driver," said Valente.