Last Wednesday night, an Italian television reporter and her cameraman were allegedly assaulted by refugees as she walked through the central train terminal in Rome.
A video of the incident that has now gone viral shows Francesca Parisella, a reporter for the Italian TV network Matrix, speaking to Matrix news anchor Nicola Porro about the refugees from Africa sleeping outside the terminal.
Parisella was in the midst of explaining that the refugees were waiting to travel to Milan, where they could then migrate to other European countries, when the camera dropped as she said, “We’ve been assaulted.”
Pirro immediately asked, “What’s happening, Francesca?”
Parisella: “They assaulted us.”
Pirro: “Get out of there! Don’t worry!”
Then Parisella screamed at the refugees assaulting her, “What do you want? What do you want? You’re crazy!”
Pirro warned, “Oh, God. Francesca, get out of there,” before instructing his producers to call the police.
When the live feed resumed, Parisella was talking from inside a cab.
Video posted to the official Matrix news network Facebook page corroborated the events in the YouTube video.
The Vlad Tepes blog transcribed the report in il Giornale:
As soon as Nicola Porro connected with his correspondent around 11:30 pm at the Station Terminal of Rome to document the situation of the campers who congregate there at night, Francesca Parisella had just enough time to begin the connection before announcing, “They have assaulted us.” With the camera weaving, it was understood that the journalist and her cameraman were fleeing and the voice of the reporter changed in tone into an actual cry of fear. A few minutes later, Porro, from the studio, explained that, “Francesca is upset but well. They have destroyed the camera and beaten the cameraman. A situation such as this evening’s should not be a report from a war zone. Thanks to a taxi driver, a much worse outcome was avoided.” The version was confirmed by Parisella herself, by telephone shortly thereafter. “We were at a distance to report on the type of welcome we can give; they were disturbed and they assaulted us. They chased me and grabbed me by the jacket,” explains the journalist.
Here’s the cab driver who saved her:
Video of the incident below:
H/T The Blaze