An alleged gang rape shocks Italy, and provides fodder for an ascendant far right

Italy has been shaken by the alleged gang rape of a 13-year-old girl in front of her boyfriend in a public park in the Sicilian city of Catania, the latest in a series string of shocking sexual attacks in the country.

Italy has been shaken by the alleged gang rape of a 13-year-old girl in front of her boyfriend in a public park in the Sicilian city of Catania, the latest in a string of shocking sexual attacks in the country. The case is reminiscent of two alleged gang rapes last summer. A group of seven men and teenage boys between the ages of 15 and 18 are currently on trial for the alleged rape of a 19-year-old girl in Palermo in August. Weeks later nine young men were arrested and charged with allegedly raping two cousins aged 10 and 12 near Naples and broadcasting the attack live on social media. They, too, are facing trial. Last month’s alleged gang rape in Catania has become not only a symbol of violence against women in the country, but a cause célèbre for Italy’s far-right government.  The seven suspected perpetrators were all Egyptian migrants, three of them under the age of 18, Catania police confirmed to CNN. CNN approached the suspect’s lawyers for comment. Lawyers for three of them said their clients denied involvement in the actual assault, while the others would not comment because their clients are minors. The case was soon seized upon as evidence that migrants should be blocked from entering the country.