Mass sexual assault in Milan’s Piazza del Duomo

27.1.2022

Priority question for written answer  P-000346/2022
to the Commission
Rule 138
Silvia Sardone (ID)

During the night of 31 December to 1 January, a group of more than 50 young men, all of North African nationality or origin, committed serious acts of sexual violence against at least 12 young women (possibly more). This sordid affair is reminiscent of the terrible events that occurred on New Year’s Eve in Cologne in 2016, both in terms of the tactics used and the origin of the perpetrators. In Arabic, this practice – first witnessed in Egypt in 2013 – is called ‘taharrush gamea’, which translates literally as ‘collective harassment’.

This sort of violence is seen mainly in Islamic communities with a submissive, veiled and oppressed image of women, and is carried out by young people often of second generation who are not properly integrated and do not respect our values and culture.

In view of the above:

• 1.Has this phenomenon spreading across Europe been studied and assessed?
• 2.What has the Commission proposed to combat forms of oppression against women tied to Islamic culture?