Detainees at a migrant holding centre here have launched a hunger strike in protest at the sudden death of a Tunisian man over the weekend, an Italian MEP said on Monday.
Vittorio Agnoletto, who visited the centre this morning, said the migrants there were furious over the death of Hassan Nejl, who they say received no medical attention despite repeated requests for help.
''There was a great deal of tension and anger among the detainees,'' said Agnoletto, a member of the small, left-wing Communist Refoundation party.
''We were able to piece together a precise version of what happened, and that is not the same as the official version''.
According to the centre's director, Antonio Baldacci, the 36-year-old Tunisian died as a result of sudden-onset pneumonia in the early hours of Saturday morning.
He said Nejl had been seen by a doctor on Friday evening after complaining of a sore throat but had then gone to sleep.
''At 3:30 in the morning, the centre's staff entered the area where Nejl was and everyone was sleeping peacefully,'' he said.
The man's death was only discovered after other detainees raised the alarm shortly after nine on Saturday morning, said Baldacci.
But according to Agnoletto, Nejl's companions told him they had been trying to attract the attention of staff personnel for most of the night.
''They stopped staff patrolling the fence, they repeatedly sounded the intercom that all the dormitories are equipped with but nothing happened,'' he said.
Staff they spoke to allegedly told them a doctor would be unable to attend Nejl before Saturday morning.
The detainees' version of events was initially reported in the La Repubblica daily on Sunday.
Officials insist there is always a doctor on duty at the centre and say they have a statement from one of the man's friends who said he noticed nothing during the night.
A number of the detainees staged a brief protest last night as news of the man's death spread.
Stacking up mattresses in the courtyard of the compound, which holds newly arrived migrants and those awaiting expulsion, they chanted ''Freedom'' and ''We don't want to die like Hassan''.
Three senators directed a parliamentary question at Interior Minister Roberto Maroni on Monday, requesting more information about the man's death.
Pietro Marcenaro, Ignazio Marino and Magda Negri, all members of the largest opposition party, the Democratic Party (PD), asked why Nejl had not been taken to hospital immediately and whether there had been delays in providing medical treatment.
This is not the first time Italy's holding centres have been in the media spotlight.
Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders, Catholic charities and the UN Refugee Agency have all criticized conditions in the centres, citing unsanitary conditions, overcrowding, and a lack of access to medical and legal experts.
The centre-left government, which lost power in April's elections, had tabled a bill to close down nine of the country's 14 centres and limit the remaining five solely for migrants awaiting expulsion.
However, the bill was repeatedly held up in parliament and the newly elected centre-right administration supports the centres, also known as CPTs.
Maroni has promised to open ten more compounds as part of a new security package that seeks to reduce a recent crime wave by making it easier to expel foreigners convicted of an offence.
