Milan prosecutor's office investigates sexual aggression towards Belgians

Milan's public prosecutor's office is opening an investigation into possible sexual aggression towards a group of six Belgians on New Year's Eve, Italian news agency Ansa reports. The incident occurred at the Piazza del Duomo, the main square in the northern Italian city.

The six friends from the Liège region - four women and two men in their 20s - had gone to the square on New Year's Eve to celebrate. But after midnight, the atmosphere is reported to have become aggressive and youths fired flares towards revellers.

The Belgians wanted to get away but became surrounded by dozens of men. The women were then allegedly verbally and physically harassed by the men, who groped them both on and under their clothes for about 10 minutes.

“Someone put his hand down my pants, one of my girlfriends was groped on her breasts,” one of the women told French-language news site 7sur7. “We were powerless. In the end, I was rescued by an Italian whose wife had also been harassed.”

The Milan prosecutor's office announced that an investigation is being launched based on that report, pending a complaint. The friends plan to file a complaint with the Liège police.

There are currently no suspects, the Milan prosecutor's office said. Investigators will examine images from surveillance cameras. Belgian Foreign minister Bernard Quintin says his services are closely following the case.

^{Italian police officers at the Piazza del Duomo in Milan © PHOTO OLIVIER MORIN / AFP}