LEAD: Florence mourns murdered Senegalese migrants

Dec 14, 2011, 16:15 GMT

Rome - Flags flew at half mast from schools and other public buildings in Florence on Wednesday while shopowners briefly paused their activities in solidarity at the killing of two Senegalese migrants by a suspect far-right extremist.

'Today we woke up not as a racist city but a city hit by racism,' Mayor Matteo Renzi said during a commemoration ceremony at the Palazzo Vecchio municipal offices.

Police say street vendors Samb Modou, 40, and Diop Mor, 54, were gunned down by Gianluca Casseri in a noon-time shooting spree which took place in two markets located in and near the storied Tuscan city's centre.

International Cooperation Minister Andrea Riccardi, who in Prime Minister Mario Monti's government is also responsible for the integration of migrants in Italy, said he planned to visit three other Senegalese nationals who were also injured in the shootings.

The condition of the three men was described as 'serious but stable.'

The man accused of Tuesday's shooting spree, a 50-year-old Italian author with far-right leanings, killed himself after being cornered by police in an underground parking lot in central Florence.

Authorities on Wednesday released a video taken by a surveillance camera which showed police surrounded Casseri's car moment before his death.

The exact motive behind the shootings remains unclear.

A far-right association, Casapound Italia, which often campaigns against the presence of migrants in Italy, described the gunman, Gianluca Casseri, as a 'sympathizer' but distanced itself from his actions.

Casseri, who had apparently been treated for depression over the last five years, was also suffering from diabetes, a condition which had worsened recently, investigators said.

'The state needs to be close to these people. I will tell them that we want to guarantee their safety,' Minister Riccardi said after the attacks.