Of trains, violent thugs, Arabic insults and partial journalism

A seemingly insignificant, albeit disturbing, local news episode. On a regional train near Milan. Five youngsters brazenly lying down on their seats, despite the train being packed with commuters, lots of people standing. A passenger rebukes them, they immediately proceed to beat him savagely. He’ll spend a month or so in the hospital due to multiple facial fractures. He’s been saved by an off-duty policeman who happened to be on the same car. Three of the offenders have been arrested. They’re Italian. First of all. They’ve been presented by the media as “ragazzi”, i.e. a word that indicates young teenagers or boys, but they’re between 18 and 25 years old.…

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