Italian police announced on Tuesday that they had identified around twenty young men suspected of sexually assaulting young women during New Year’s Eve festivities in Milan (North), including two German tourists.
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Nine women said they were assaulted by groups of young men as New Year’s Eve celebrations were in full swing in Piazza del Duomo, the Lombard capital’s main square. “The young men who sexually assaulted young women in Piazza del Duomo in Milan on New Year’s Eve have been identified“Said the Milan police in a press release, specifying that they were 18 men and adolescents aged 15 to 21, Italians and foreigners. Searches were carried out Tuesday morning in Milan and Turin as part of the investigation opened by the Milan public prosecutor’s office for sexual assaults in meetings.
Thanks to CCTV images, testimonies and social networks, the police were able to reconstruct “three episodes of violencecommitted against nine young women that night. “We tried to push them away, my friend hit and slapped them, but they were laughing and they kept attacking us. I had 15 hands on me“, Testified one of the victims, quoted by the Ansa press agency. Among the victims are two German tourists aged 20, according to Ansa.
This series of publicized attacks has fueled concerns about violence against women in Italy, where two women are killed each week, usually by their spouse or ex-boyfriend.