A turf war and jealousy spurred by a visit to two local girls sparked the street fight in central Gallarate that involved about a hundred youths on January 8, local daily La Prealpina said Thursday.
A 14-year-old boy was hurt and a dozen youths cited after the
brawl in the town north of Milan.
Witnesses cited by La Prealpina 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.
Youth street fights are becoming ore common in Italy, and there
was a deadly one near Rome in September.
The most recent big street fight too place in Rome on the night
of January 4, and a 29-year-old man was arrested for going and
getting a handgun to defend one of the two rival groups.
The man, who was caught after a brief chase, was charged with
affray, illegally bearing weapons and resisting arrest.
The other members of the two groups managed to elude police.
Police fired two shots into the air to disperse them after
spotting the man with the gun.
The fight took place in the eastern Centocelle district of the
Italian capital.
Last month 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.
A pair of amateur boxing brothers
were detained in the murder of a 21-year-old Italian-Cape
Verdian man, Willy Duarte, in a street fight at Colleferro near
Rome in September.
The Bianchi brothers, experts in mixed martial arts, allegedly
killed cook Duarte because he stepped in to help a
friend in a scuffle on September 6.
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 street violence, after a spate of other episodes.
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