Over the past few weeks, across the country, Italy has seen a number of attacks on its LGBT citizens. In Rome:
There was widespread panic when two letter bombs were thrown at a bar in a gay neighbourhood in the centre of the Italian capital Rome late Tuesday in an escalation of anti-gay violence. Italian media reports said the explosive devices were thrown from two motorcycles.
Several people were injured in the attack, and one was taken to nearby San Giovanni Hospital for aid . . . Last Wednesday, a gay woman was threatened by a youth in the same street where Tuesday’s attacks occurred, while in a separate incident, a gay couple was brutally attacked. One of the men suffered a head wound and the other was knifed in the abdomen.
A gay singer was also attacked a few weeks ago in Rome, while vandals also tried torching a gay disco while it was closed.
And in Naples, a pair of gay tourists in Naples were beaten by a gang of young men.
And the residents of Rome have had enough. Last night, around 300 people gathered for a sit-down protest on the street near “Gay Streeet” near the city’s famous Colosseum. Arcigay, the city’s LGBT rights group, said that it planned protests in Rome every Friday starting this week to demand that something be done.
According to Arcigay, the number of anti-LGBT homicide and assault cases in 2009 have already surpassed those from the year before.
Watch a Rome news report on the most recent attack.
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