Two suspects in the beating of a 17-year-old boy in Colleferro at the weekend on Wednesday obtained house arrest.
Lorenzo Farina and Christian Marozza have been charged with the
savage beating, which revived memories of the beating death in
the same town near Rome last year of a 21-year-old Cape
Verdian-Italian cook, Willy Monteiro Duarte, who became a symbol
of the youth street violence sweeping Italy.
Duarte was beaten to death in Colleferro on September 6
after stepping in to defend a friend.
Duarte's alleged killers, a pair of brothers who are expert
mixed martial arts fighters, have been charged with his murder.
On October 8 President Sergio Mattarella awarded one of Italy's
top honours, the gold medal, posthumously to Duarte and another
person also recently killed while trying to help others,
51-year-old priest Father Roberto Malgesini.
Malgesini, who worked to help the poor and marginalised, was
stabbed to death in central Como by a homeless migrant with
mental-health problems.
Duarte's brutal alleged murder sparked calls for police to crack
down on youth street violence, after a spate of other episodes.
Among the responses was the 'Willy DASPOban', which carries
penalties of stiff fines and jail terms between six months and
two years.
Youth street fights are becoming more common in Italy.
Another big street fight took place in Rome on the night of
January 4, when a 29-year-old man was arrested for going and
getting a handgun to defend one of the two rival groups.
In December several youths, some with criminal records and some
minors, were identified after a mass street fight involving
hundreds of young people on Rome's Pincian Hill on a Saturday
night.
The dust-up, which featured gangs of youths without face masks
or with their masks lowered, was reportedly arranged on social
media by two girls, Rome daily Il Messaggero reported.
There was another major confrontation between two rival youth
gangs in Gallarate north of Milan, also in January.
At least 100 youths took part, some of them wielding sticks and
chains.
MIlan minors' prosecutor Ciro Cascone said the episode was a
"full-blown brawl that verged on urban guerilla warfare".
A turf war and jealousy spurred by a visit to two local girls
sparked the street fight in central Gallarate for which the
youths have now been arrested and placed under investigation.
Witnesses cited by local La Prealpina daily said two boys from
Malnate went to see two girls from Cassano Magnago near
Gallarate after meeting them on social media, sparking the
jealousy of two local boys who were interested in them.
The four had an initial fight which then led to a showdown in
the centre of Gallarate that youths showed up for after being
alerted on WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram, the daily said.
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