The man attacked at dawn as he went to his studio: kicked and punched to take away his bag. The complaint: “In this area, young people are rampant: the situation has become unsustainable

Firenze, November 26, 2023 – Surrounded by a baby gang, beaten and robbed of his dentist’s equipment with which, early in the morning, he was heading towards his office. “I went from having my head resting on the pillow to having it on the asphalt”, comments with bitter sarcasm Dr. Giovanni P., 51, robbed at 4.30 in the morning in via Galeno, in Poggetto by a small group of very young people. Pain from the kicks he suffered after he was catapulted to the ground, but also a lot of disappointment from the drift into which he sees his city and his neighborhood, Rifredi, falling. And the desire to react, expressed in a complaint presented by his lawyer, the lawyer Francesco Ceccherini, in which he asks for punishment for the authors of the attack (three subjects, with North African appearances) but also solutions for a situation “that has become almost unsustainable “, as also emerged from a complaint, with 1600 signatures, from traders and residents of the Piazza Dalmazia area.

“I would like to point out that I am married to a non-EU citizen”, the doctor is keen to point out, to clear the field of doubts that his words may be fueled by prejudice.

The attack took place ten days ago on the corner of Via Mercati, where three subjects “in an intimidating manner” approached him to ask for a cigarette. A pretext, because “faced with an initial response of denial, they began to make requests for money, in a visibly more threatening tone”. Not the second one, “one of the three subjects attacked me, grabbing me by the neck, insulting words like ‘mafioso’, and tried to snatch the bag off me”. Inside, in addition to the clothes, there were professional equipment worth 3500 euros. “The attack continued with blows to the face and numerous blows to the head. Subsequently, the other two subjects of the group joined in, who, until then remaining conniving, yanked me, making me fall to the ground and also began to hit me with numerous kicks to the whole body.”

The fear and awe felt are undeniable. Not only. I am an ordinary person, who lives in an area that has now become the protagonist of countless episodes of attacks, robberies, fights and vandalism. The significant crime rate that has characterized the area for too long has in fact created a climate of strong tension for anyone who passes through, lives or works there. The existence of numerous baby gangs is now clear, i.e. young people on the run who commit crimes in a clear state of drunkenness and under the influence of drugs”, concludes the doctor.