Three migrants from Senegal and Nigeria have been arrested by police investigating the rape and killing of a girl whose death has been seized upon by the populist right.
The body of Desirée Mariottini, 16, was found in a derelict building in an area of Rome known for drug trafficking. She had been drugged and gang raped.
Right-wing Interior Minister Matteo Salvini hailed the arrests, condemning those behind the murder as “worms”.
It would not go unpunished, he said.
When he visited the scene of Ms Mariottini’s murder on Wednesday close to Rome’s main Termini station, he was given a mixed reception of cheers and insults.
Investigators believe the victim fell unconscious for several hours last week after being given a cocktail of drugs by several people, and died of an overdose. She was sexually abused before she died.
