Spain: Protests Erupt After Migrant African Street Vendor Killed By Police

Residents of the Madrid district of Lavapies said that the Senegalese victim, a street vendor, died after being chased by police.

Protests have broken out in the Madrid neighborhood of Lavapies after a 35-year-old Senegalese street vendor was found dead on Thursday morning.

Friends of the victim, identified as Mame Mbaye Ndiaye, say he died after being chased by police from the Plaza Mayor to Lavapies.

However, police representatives say the cause of death was a cardiorespiratory arrest.

Following the incident, a large group of people – many of them migrants – burned containers and shouted: "cowards" and "murderers" at law enforcement officers, in protest against police "persecution" of street vendors.

The local Police Intervention Unit (UIP) was deployed to the area with riot police, while firefighters extinguished the containers.

According to media reports at least 20 persons were injured in the clashes with ten police officers also suffering minor injures, officials said.

The clashes, which started around 9 p.m. on Thursday weren't quelled until the early hours of Friday morning, as police and security forces struggled to stop them from spreading from street to street.

Several bank branches, bus stops, and vehicles were damaged along with dustbins and other physical infrastructure.

Earlier this month, migrants also protested in Florence, Italy, after Idy Diene, a 54-year-old legal migrant originally from Senegal, was shot dead by Roberto Pirrone. Pirrone, 65, said he chose his victim at random after initially intending to kill himself in a suicide note he left for his family.

On Friday, Spanish news agency EFE reported that at least six persons were arrested during the protest.