“You are Chinese and you brought the virus,” South Korean engineer beaten

“You are Chinese and you brought the virus here”: for this and other phrases, accompanied by pushing and beating in the street against a South Korean electronic engineer, 5 young people from Anghiari (Arezzo), between 19 and 20 years old, were reported by the carabinieri of the command of the company of Sansepolcro (Ar). They are accused of verbal and physical assault aggravated by racial hatred against a sixty-year-old native of South Korea, an employee of a foreign company operating in Italy, who moved to Anghiari for some time. From the reconstruction of the episode carried out by the military, the man was walking through the streets of the historic center of Anghiari after work when he was surrounded by the group. The boys, “in a completely disrespectful and unmotivated way”, explained the carabinieri, began to deride the 60-year-old for his oriental features: the South Korean engineer, however, continued on his way on foot without paying much attention to the happened. The five young men, on the other hand, after following him for about ten meters, surrounded him and started pushing and hitting. In addition to being physically assaulted, the man was also threatened and accused as a carrier of the Covid-19 virus in the town of the province of Arezzo. The rapid investigations of the carabinieri made it possible to quickly trace the identity of the subjects involved, starting from the declarations of some passers-by who summarily provided useful ideas. The 5 Italian boys will have to answer in concurrence for the crimes of beatings and aggravated threats. Among the members of the attack, all subjects known to the carabinieri as burdened with criminal and police precedents, two were also denounced last year for a case of vandalism, concerning the launch of a bench from the high historic walls of Anghiari.