Two German 20-year-olds filed a complaint in Mannheim: «We had fifteen hands on us, the attack lasted ten minutes. The police did nothing. ‘ The Prosecutor’s Office: very serious and unprecedented facts. Mayor Sala: hateful acts that are not worthy of our city
The pack. The girls surrounded. Harassment. Tears and calls for help from the crowd. I am at least fivecases of sexual assaults against as many girls on New Year’s Eve in Piazza del Duomo in Milan. The Prosecutor is investigating with the hypothesis of group sexual violence, because they were committed by young people who acted in the manner of a “pack”. Ways that remember what happened to
Cologne in 2016, always during the celebrations at the beginning of the year, when hundreds of young foreigners, acting in small groups, abused dozens of women, including to rob them. The testimonies of the young women are being collected in the minutes and the Prosecutor’s Office reiterates that what happened on New Year’s Eve in Milan is “a very serious and unprecedented fact».
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The young German victims
“We tried to push them back, my friend hit them and slapped them but they laughed and they continued to harass us, I had 15 hands on me“. It is the testimony toAnsa of one of the two 20-year-old German girls, harassed in Piazza Duomo, who filed a complaint in Mannheim, where they live. “The police saw us and did nothing – is the prosecution – I don’t know why, it was shocking because they can’t not have seen us.” The video that captures them as they ask for help “It’s just the final part of an attack that lasted 10 minutes.” The two girls had arrived in Milan on December 31 to spend the end of the year and decided to go to Piazza Duomo like many other tourists: “We thought we were having fun and instead at one point we were surrounded by a group of people. They all spoke in Arabic and pushed us, at a certain point I fell to the ground and they kept putting their hands on us ». «We could not escape – continues a 20 year old – we were blocked. We cried and screamed for help but no one helped us. We had 30 people around us who touched us everywhere, no one spoke Italian and unfortunately no one spoke English when we managed to get out of there ». “It was really shocking – she concludes – my friend still can’t sleep.”
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Mayor Beppe Sala
«The attacks that took place in Piazza Duomo on New Year’s Eve are a very serious fact not worthy of our city», Comments the mayor of Milan Giuseppe Sala:« With the councilor for security Marco Granelli, we are in constant contact with the police station which is working tirelessly to identify those responsible for these hateful acts and we are confident in the effectiveness of the investigations. Discovering and stopping the members of the “pack” that was responsible for such violence is the best answer we can give to the victims. I want to express my full closeness to them ».
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The investigations
The investigation of the mobile squad, coordinated by the deputy prosecutor Letizia Mannella and by the prosecutor Alessia Menegazzo, started fromepisode that saw a 19-year-old as the victim surrounded, around 1.30 am, by about thirty boys, mainly of foreign origin, but also from what happened to the friend who was with her (who would have managed to avoid a more violent attack thanks to the intervention of a friend). In addition, investigations are underway on abuse of two German youths left at the mercy of another group before midnight, frightened and in tears, in the square manned by the police. Finally, it is being investigated on another alleged case of violence against another young woman.
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The minutes
In at least three minutes they are described “horrible” sexual harassment and abuse by the “pack” that surrounded the victims. According to reports, there are already three cases of group sexual violence found, both with the complaints and testimonies collected by the police and with medical examinations. Investigators and investigators, in addition to analyzing the footage of the cameras in the area and amateur videos published online, they recovered all the reports of thefts and robberies which were committed that night around the Duomo, because they could have been “accompanied” by unreported sexual violence. Investigators are working to get in touch with all the alleged victims, some of whom had come from outside Milan to celebrate the New Year.
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The president of the historic center
«Come Municipal Councilor 1 and even before a Milanese citizen I express the clearest condemnation and denunciation of what happened. We need supervision, we need social prevention and all the possible commitment why Milan is not a city where similar episodes can happen. Never again »: so on social networks Lorenzo Pacini. “These are very young boys, some minors, many Italians of foreign origin, who” protected “among themselves feel unpunished in attacking these poor girls of their age”. The post was shared by municipal councilor of the Democratic Party Simonetta D’Amico, who comments: «What happened on New Year’s Eve is very serious».
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The Pd
Those shots in the videos «are heartbreaking images which once again recount unacceptable situations that women too often find themselves subjected to ”, she comments the metropolitan secretary of the Milanese Democratic Party Silvia Roggiani. «Violence and behavior that are the children of a patriarchal culture of our society in which a group of boys feels entitled to be able to do whatever they want towards girls. I’m sure justice will run its course. But now we also continue with a strong cultural action, starting from schools, only in this way will we be able to really change things “.
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Serious, shabby, unacceptable. I hope that the investigators trace those responsible.
May this 2022 bring less criminals to Italians, fewer crimes, fewer landings of illegal immigrants, more security and serenity. pic.twitter.com/nzsHT4tw17– Matteo Salvini (@matteosalvinimi) January 7, 2022
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Brothers of Italy and Lega
“Serious, bleak, unacceptable.” So he writes the Northern League leader Matteo Salvini on Twitter after the sexual assaults in Piazza Duomo: «I hope that the investigators go back to those responsible. May this 2022 bring less delinquents to Italians, fewer crimes, fewer landings of illegal immigrants, more security and serenity “. “I was the first to declare that these very serious episodes bring to mind what happened on New Year’s Eve in Cologne and other German cities in 2016”, recalls the regional councilor for safety Riccardo De Corato (Brothers of Italy), who adds: «In North African countries this practice is sadly known as ‘taharrush gamea’, which means collective harassment». Silvia Sardone, MEP and Northern League city councilor in Milan, comments: «There was group sexual violence and several girls were abused and beaten. At this point we want the truth: what happened in Piazza Duomo? How many similar cases are there? Why did she allow herself this situation? It is now evident that there were herds of foreigners ready to commit crimes and violence against women. Among other things, I wonder where the feminists are in the face of clear abuse of women. Perhaps they are more interested in the question of gender language ”, concludes Sardone. “Most likely the authors of the serious New Year’s episodes are the same ones who assiduously frequent Piazza Mercanti, between fast food restaurants and the Loggia – he declares Francesco Rocca, councilor of the Brothers of Italy -. Concrete measures should be taken with theinstallation of new cameras and with a fixed garrison of the Local Police between Piazza Mercanti and Piazza del Duomo ».
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January 7, 2022 (change January 7, 2022 | 18:10)
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