The culture-enrichers of Milan must have been jealous of their cousins in Cologne: on New Year’s Eve they decided embark upon some gropin’ and rapin’ in the good old taharrush tradition. Due to the surge of the Omicron variant, severe restrictions were in effect in the public spaces of Milan. But that didn’t stop the “New Italians”, who are no respecters of lockdowns, and are not generally held to account for flouting the rules. They proceeded to terrorize a number of young women in the square of the Duomo (Cathedral) with their violent and unwanted attentions.

The main perpetrators were reportedly Egyptians. Not enough of them have been identified for me to be able to assign the incident a comprehensive Mohammed Coefficient. However, the two youths who have been named have a coefficient of 50%.

Many thanks to Gary Fouse for translating the articles and video below, and to Vlad Tepes and RAIR Foundation for subtitling the video:

The first article is from Il Giornale:

“They all spoke in Arabic”. Chats about the nightmare are popping up

January 8, 2022

The victims recall the phrases in Arabic, but from social media other details emerge: The attackers are reportedly all Egyptians and regular visitors in the area.

by Francesca Galici

New details of the sexual harassment in Milan on New Year’s Eve continue to emerge. The most detailed account was given to Ansa News by one of two German girls who were attacked in Duomo Square: “We tried to push them off; my friend hit them and slapped them, but they laughed and continued to sexually harass us; I had fifteen hands on me.” The two students gave their report to the police at Mannheim, the German city where they live, and they did not skimp on accusations against the Italian police: “The police saw us and did nothing. I don’t know how to say it, because it was shocking, because they couldn’t have not seen us.”

The two young students had arrived in Milan on December 31. They had chosen Milan to spend New Year’s Eve in without imagining that it would end in a nightmare like this. On the web, a clip is circulating of a few seconds regarding that episode which, as stated by one of the girls, “is only the final part of an attack that lasted ten minutes.” The police are reconstructing the facts using videos from the security cameras, those of amateurs, and the statements of those who were in that part of Duomo Square at the time.

But the accounts of the victims are the ones from which emerge the most details at the moment: “We were surrounded by a group of people. They all spoke in Arabic; they pushed us, and at a certain moment, I fell on the ground, and they continued to put their hands on us.” The students tried to escape and free themselves from the grip of the mob, but, they explain, “we could not escape; we were blocked. We were crying and screaming for help, but nobody helped us. We had thirty people around who touched us everywhere; nobody was speaking Italian, and unfortunately, nobody spoke English when we managed to get away from there.”

The municipality and institutions owe a convincing explanation for what happened in the most important square of the city, the symbol of Milan around the world. Meanwhile, on the pages dedicated to the city, those in which local facts about Milan are told, various testimonies arrive. There are those who suffered the same attack reported by the German girls and those, on the other hand, who claim to know who the attackers of New Year’s Eve were.

From Instagram (Hat tip Milanobelladadio)

“I spoke with a Tunisian friend of mine. He stated that they are mostly Egyptians in the video; we cannot recognize the faces well, we have taken advantage of the Telegram photos, but they are people who can be found in Mercanti Square and the Duomo area. Once they left by the steps, those of the Museum of 900,” reads one very detailed message. The same then furnishes more information: “Anyway, they always hang out in the Duomo area, even on the walls of the cathedral, but mostly in Mercanti Square. They are almost always there, usually in the afternoon and especially on the weekends. They bother all the girls who pass by, follow them, making comments. And if you try to respond, they surround you, and, if possible, attack you.”

Whoever wrote that message seems to know them, and says they “are almost always armed with knives” and that since they drink, “they always have the bottle ready to break.” If certain information is known to those who appear to be ordinary citizens of Milan or those who frequent the city, it should be known as well to the institutions. Yet, on the other hand, these people are free to continue to break the law and to sully the image of the city. It is a shame that Marino Palace [City Hall] is only now aware that Milan is not a safe city because, perhaps, they would have been able to intervene to prevent certain episodes.

The second article is also from Il Giornale:

Molestations at the Duomo, eighteen young men being sought: Here is who they are.

11 January 2022

All are 15-21 years of age. They are both foreigners and Italians of North African origin.

by Valentina Dardari

Following the investigations of the Public Prosecutor of Milan, who is searching for the perpetrators of the sexual attacks committed on New Year’s Eve in Milan’s Duomo Square against at least nine victims, the State Police have announced that searches pertaining to eighteen boys are in progress.

Also, three minors among those sought

Specifically, there are fifteen adults and three minors, aged 15-21 years of age, held responsible for the (attacks) on the night of December 31 for various reasons. The searches, in progress between Milan and Turin, involve boys who are both foreigners and Italians of North African origins. At the moment, however, for various reasons, only twelve of the eighteen boys sought are being investigated for group sexual violence, robbery, and aggravated injuries.

The investigation, still in progress, for the time being has ascertained three different episodes of violence committed that tragic New Year’s Eve against nine girls present in the principal square of the capital of Lombardy to celebrate the arrival of the new year. The searches are being carried out by the National Police, coordinated by the National Prosecutor of Milan, as well as the National Prosecutor for the Juvenile Court in Milan, and also includes the participation of police officers from the Milan Section of Judicial Police, the Mobile Squad of the Turin police headquarters, and the Crime Prevention Departments of Lombardy and Piedmont.

Foreigners and North African Italians

The efforts of the investigators, which are based on viewing the images from surveillance systems and the statements of passersby and the victims, as well as analysis of videos posted on social media, have led to the identification of eighteen alleged members of the mob of boys who sexually molested nine young women. As previously stated, only twelve of the boys are being investigated for now. For purposes of the investigation, the work of experts from the Scientific Police from the Lombardy Regional Cabinet, who used specialized personnel and particular software for facial recognition, is very important.

For days, the victims have told what occurred on that nightmare night. In the final testimony of yesterday evening, one of the two students molested in Milan, a guest of “4th Republic” [TV show], told what she felt in those moments, surrounded and stripped by the herd, along with her friend. The girl told of falling to the ground, pushed by the crowd, and of feeling at least 30, or maybe 50 men touching her body and breasts with their hands, after which, her bra was torn off. Fortunately, the girl, due to the cold, had thought of wearing a pair of shorts under her skirt.

The final article is from Corriere della Sera:

Two charged in Milan case — both identified

New Year’s Eve in Milan, the 18-year-old arrested for violence: “I saw the girls surrounded, but I didn’t touch them”

The young man responded to the questions of gip (preliminary investigation judge) from the San Vittore jail: “I didn’t touch the girls. Then I got scared and left”. The Egyptian father, in Milan for two years, lives in the Comasina zone.

Abdallah Bouguedra, 21, and Abdelrahman Ahmed Mahmoud Ibrahim, 18

“I saw that they surrounded these girls, but I didn’t participate.” He defended himself. He said he “did nothing”, that he didn’t “touch” the girls, that he saw the people crowded together, and then he ran. That he only watched. A spectator, not a molester: “I am a good person, I have always worked.” Abdelrahman Ahmed Mahmoud Ibrahim, the 18-year-old arrested in the evening at Milan for the attack in Duomo Square on New Year’s Eve, together with the 21-year-old Abdallah Bouguedra, a resident of Turin, was interrogated remotely (with the help of an interpreter) by the preliminary investigating judge, Raffaella Mascarino. The young worker, a second-generation Italian, whose father is Egyptian, resident in Milan for two years in Via Bovio in Comasina, is locked up in the San Vittore jail. His lawyer, Iacopo Viola, has requested house arrest. The judge must decide on the request for approval of pre-trial custody in jail requested by the prosecutor.

Interrogation at San Vittore

Abdelrahman Ahmed Mahmoud Ibrahim reconstructed, step by step, the entire sequence of attacks but said that he did not participate in any type of violence. “I was there, I saw it, but I wasn’t involved.” The 18-year-old, heard by the preliminary investigating judge in a hearing to validate the arrest and assisted by the attorney Iacopo Viola, told of meeting friends at the Duomo and observing the entire scene from afar. “I had just arrived and I met with some people I knew,” he said. After a short time, the 18-year-old’s friends reportedly “surrounded the girls,” The “mess” reportedly “happened from 12:30 on”. The boy confirmed seeing, “the girl dressed in red,” while she was trying to defend herself, and “spat in the face of someone.” After the attacks, the 18-year-old said he was “scared” and went off to take the Metro.

The lawyer

“He responded and had a cooperative attitude with the judge,” his attorney Viola said at the end of the interrogation. “It is a delicate situation that involves one who is barely an adult. I can say that he admitted being in the square, but denied the accusations. I have requested house arrest.” The judge has reserved the decision on accepting the measure from the Milan Prosecutors Office and to apply pre-trial detention in jail.

The father: “Three months ago, he lost his brother”

“My son is a good boy, a worker who recently lost his brother,” Ahmed, the father of the boy, told reporters in front of the building on the periphery of Milan where he lives with Abdelrahman. “My son has suffered; just three months ago he lost a brother.” He works with plasterboard and has a clean record. “That evening, he went out to have fun with friends; I am sure he is innocent, and that everything will be cleared up,” he added.

The 21-year-old “from Turin”

As for Abdallah Bouguedra, the 21-year-old arrested in Turin, in the arrest decree issued by the Milan prosecutor reads, “he demonstrated a clear and conscious adherence to the criminal actions of the group of men who attacked the two 19-year-olds at McDonald’s, “unequivocally inserting himself as an active participant in the sexually violent conduct of the group.” “The brutality of the conduct of Abdallah B. shows the marked dangerousness of the subject, who, if freed, could commit other crimes of the same nature, also exploiting the force of intimidation of the violent group of which he is a part.” For the assistant prosecutor, Letizia Mannella and the prosecutor, Alessia Mengazzo, “the same considerations must be made with respect to the actions carried out by Abdelrahman Ahmed Mahmoud Ibrahim.” The latter is also under investigation for his alleged participation in the sexual attack on a group of four friends from Tuscany, aged 18-19, at the entrance to the Vittorio Emanuele II Galleria.

Parents defend him

The parents of Abdallah Bouguedra also defend him. “Our son is a good boy; he didn’t do anything.” “Leave us in peace or we will call the Carabinieri,” they add responding to the call box of their residence, an apartment in the housing areas of the northern periphery of Turin. In the home of the young man, a second-generation Italian of North African origin, investigators from the Milan police, with the help of colleagues from the Turin police headquarters, found the clothes the young man was wearing on New Year’s Eve.

Video transcript: