Italian Police Investigate ‘Islamic Ritual’ Gang Sex Assaults on NYE in Milan by Around 40 ‘North African’ Men

Italian police are investigating a series of suspected ‘Islamic ritual’ sexual assaults against several young women during New Year’s Eve in Milan by around 40 men.

The Ansa public news agency reports that prosecutors in Milan have opened an investigation into multiple gang sexual assaults allegedly and molestations carried out by “second-generation North African men” in Milan’s Piazza del Duomo on New Year’s Eve.

So far, at least six tourists in their early 20s from Belgium, two Italian women, a woman from South America, and a woman from England have been identified as potential victims of the attacks. Police expect that further victims may come forward in the coming days.

The probe was launched after testimony from Laura Barbier, a 20-year-old woman from Belgium, who claims that she and her friends, four women and two men, were surrounded and sexually groped by around 40 men.

“We were trapped, helpless in the face of such violence! It was a waking nightmare,” told Belgian media. “We were surrounded, and we couldn’t move! We held hands while they touched us all over the clothes and under the clothes! Despite our jackets and scarves. And it lasted 10 minutes, which is a very long time in this kind of situation.”

She added in comments reported by Italy’s RAI broadcaster that there were around 40 men between the ages of 20 and 40. After finally breaking free, the group approached police officers, relaying the horrific incident in English, to which the female police officer allegedly replied: “I can’t do anything, sorry”.

According to a report from the Italian newspaper Il Giornale, the prosecutor’s office in Milan suspects that the alleged sexual assaults were a manifestation of the “Islamic ritual” known as taharrush gamea, or the “collective sexual harassment in crowds”. The paper said the attacks generally target “insolent women, guilty of showing up in public”.

The dozens of alleged assailants are reported by The Telegraph to have been carrying Palestinian and other flags during the attacks.

The first widely documented ‘taharrush gamea’ incident occurred in Egypt in 2005 when the government allegedly hired gangs of men to assault female protesters and journalists sexually. Amnesty International reported in 2015 that since 2012, “mob sexual assaults, including rape, have become a regular feature of protests in the vicinity of Tahrir Square in Cairo.”

The practice has since spread into Europe, most notably in the 2016 New Year’s Eve Cologne attacks brought to international attention by Breitbart London. In total, around 1,200 were sexually assaulted by gangs of men described as being either North African or Arab. The case came in the wake of then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel opening the doors to mass migration, allowing around one million migrants into the country.

Gang sex attacks have also occurred in Italy, including in Milan on New Year’s Eve 2022 in the very same Piazza del Duomo when nine young women fell victim to similar sexual assaults, leading prosecutors to believe that the recent attacks may have been a copy cat of the incidents two years prior.

Follow Kurt Zindulka on X: Follow @KurtZindulka or e-mail to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.