Shocking Footage Shows Italian Locals Piling On Ghanaian Man After He ‘Goes Berserk’ With A Bar In Martina Franca

A dramatic video that tore through social media yesterday shows a chaotic street confrontation in southern Italy in which locals chased down and pinned a man to the tarmac after he went on a rampage with a bar.

Italian newspapers have now identified the scene. It happened on Saturday morning, 5 September, on via Aprile in Martina Franca, a historic town in the province of Taranto, Puglia, just behind the Palazzo Ducale.

A 29-year-old Ghanaian man who lives in the town allegedly entered an agitated state – reports mention possible psychiatric problems and/or substances, then began stopping cars and smashing them with a stick, metal bar or long rubber tube. He shattered at least one windshield on a small two-seater and, according to some accounts, snatched an elderly woman’s bag. Panic spread through the centre as pedestrians scattered.

What the footage shows next matches the local reporting. A man in a striped top is seen moving erratically near parked cars and a crossing, then brandishing a long object by a street sign. One resident tries to confront him and both go down. Others pile in. The man is wrestled onto the roadway, disarmed and held down until the Carabinieri arrive.

Four people were injured in the scuffle: a 70-year-old woman with hand trauma, a man who was bitten and hurt his elbow, another with a knee injury, and a fourth with hand and wrist injuries. The suspect was detained, taken to Martina Franca hospital for treatment and a psychiatric assessment, and kept under guard. Multiple complaints were filed over damaged vehicles, one of them reportedly a municipal car.

Mayor Gianfranco Palmisano, who is also president of the Province of Taranto, condemned the “grave and unacceptable” violence and called for a foglio di via – an order removing the man from the area.

Online, the same pictures have been given a harder edge. Arabic posters described “this African” as having “gone wild on people until they gathered on him and beat him.” English-language accounts called it citizens doing what they say the state will not. Italian coverage has been more measured: a sudden disturbance by a man in an altered state, followed by a rough citizen arrest.

Either way, the video from behind the Ducal Palace is already travelling far beyond Puglia – sold in one language as street justice, and in another as the punchline to a Gulf word for losing your temper.