The perpetrators are young Arabs, the victims European women. The level of violence is lower, but parallels to Cologne’s New Year’s Eve cannot be overlooked.
Italian police officers will be standing in front of the Duomo in Milan city center on December 31, 2021. Several young women were molested there – they accuse the police of intervening too late.
The two young women from Germany fought violently against the horde of hooting young men who attacked them on New Year’s Eve on Cathedral Square in Milan. “We tried to push her back, my friend hit and slapped her, but they just laughed and pushed us further.” The superiority was too great. «We couldn’t leave, we were circled. We cried and called for help, but no one helped us. We had 30 men around us, they touched us everywhere. “
The defensive fight between the two 20-year-old tourists against the male horde lasted ten minutes, then they managed to escape. One of them reported to the Italian news agency days later Ansa about the incident. “They all spoke Arabic and pushed us. I went down once. They kept touching us. ” And: “The police watched and did nothing.” However, video images show that in the end police officers in riot gear intervened. The two women have now reported to the police in Mannheim in Germany.
The local newspaper in Milan reported a very similar incident on New Year’s Day “Il Giorno” on their online portal. A 19-year-old Italian woman was affected. She also fought vigorously, she too complained about inaction by the police, and she too was finally brought to safety by a police officer. A total of five young women have reported to the authorities about sexual assault by groups of young men. All of them were harassed, groped, and in some cases robbed in the area around the cathedral that night.
It was only after a delay of days that these events were noticed in the major Italian newspapers and on television. At first there was only talk of several fights and injuries, as well as a large explosion of fireworks despite the ban. Comparisons are now being made to New Year’s Eve 2015/16 in Cologne. The parallels are striking: Arab, male perpetrators, European, female victims, and again delayed reporting. However, the dimensions are different. In Cologne dozens of women were molested, in Milan, according to what we know so far, there were far fewer – which changes little for those directly affected.
Videos were on the internet on rather remote portals like Alanews and Milanobelladio released. Two other women answered here, one in Italian, one in English. Both said they had also been attacked, one added that she had been injured in the ankle and could no longer walk. There were also indications – unsubstantiated – that the perpetrators were young Egyptians who were hanging around in the area around Cathedral Square, especially at a fast-food snack.
On the far right, the matter is being exaggerated: «Our cities are being colonized by hordes of Immigrants, molest Italian girls with impunity, ”it says. The party-political exchange of blows inevitably follows: the right-wing interior minister of the Lombardy region criticizes the left-wing Milanese mayor Beppe Sala for keeping silent about the events. This then qualifies the event as “extremely serious” and “not worthy of our city”. The victims can best be found satisfaction by convicting and punishing the perpetrators.
The Italian police are investigating «group sexual violence». Video images from surveillance cameras and cell phones are intended to help identify the perpetrators. Some of the faces are quite easy to see, but most of them are not. On some of the published videos you can only see the young men from behind, out of focus and always in motion. Most of them have the same flower pot hairstyle, shaved all around and a quiff on top.