Italy: What Has Happened to Udine?

The small town of Udine, located in northeastern Italy, used to be a quiet, tranquil place. No longer. Now the city is dealing with gangs of teenage boys, of foreign extraction (i.e. Albanian) who fight and cause havoc in the city. Often they come into the city from surrounding areas to deal drugs, hang out, drink, and commit acts of violence, sometimes against each other, sometimes against innocent citizens.

Now the problem in Italy has caused national attention after a Japanese man, Tominaga Shimpei, 56,  was attacked in the city by a gang of youths and is now fighting for his life. According to Corriere della Sera, Tominaga, a businessman who was residing in Udine, was attacked by five men between the ages of 20-30 as he was eating at an establishment with two Italian friends. He reportedly had intervened to render assistance to another person who was running from the attackers.  Corriere della Sera has published the names of the five men who are in custody. Meanwhile, Tominaga is in an induced coma.

The below article from today’s Il Tempo is translated by Fousesquawk.

 https://www.iltempo.it/attualita/2024/06/24/news/udine-tominaga-shimpei-giappone-sicurezza-paura-risse-gang-sindaco-de-toni-news-39699133/

Udine, no hope for Tominaga Shimpei, fear spreads in the city, and the mayor has disappeared

24 June 2024

In the evening, the wife and 13-year-old son of Tominaga Shimpei, the man attacked in the center of the city Friday who is fighting between life and death, will arrive from Japan. The latest crime news incident that has unleashed the anger of Udine’s citizens and business people, who cannot take it any longer. The situation is out of control, and contrary to what the local institutions claim, every day at sunset in the city, fights happen between groups of young men, mostly minors and of foreign extraction. Drunk and under the effect of drugs, they are found during the day in the green areas surrounding the heart of Udine, then around evening, they head to San Giacomo Square, which from being the city’s living room, seems to have become their ring, where, armed with knives and (broken) bottle shards, they confront each other. But paying the price are not only the members of these “baby gangs”, but also ordinary citizens like Tominaga, whose hopes for life are, unfortunately, almost zero.

People no longer serenely go out of their homes in the evening; it is not the perception of insecurity, it is the real fear and also the anger of seeing the city in these conditions. We at least expected that Mayor De Toni would intervene publicly, but as often happens, he preferred to send his vice (mayor) to be interviewed by the editorial staff of Messaggero Veneto, (words) that certainly did not reassure the population. We also ask ourselves why it is more and more often that groups of young men arrive in the city from Veneto to commit crimes, like these five characters now under arrest. Last month, a young man of Albanian origin was stabbed in the throat in a Brovedani alley in broad daylight in the historic city center by another foreigner who came to the city from Treviso to settle a score. Many are also worried about the rise in drug dealing that takes place in broad daylight in the largest park in the city, Moretti Park.

After the summit meeting between the prefect, chief of police, and mayor, which took place late in the morning, urgent measures were taken. A ban on sales of alcohol in bottles after 9 pm, a ban on serving alcohol in all establishments after 1 a.m., joint patrols in the city center- Carabinieri, National Police, Guardia di Finanza, traffic police, and military will do foot patrols in the heart of Udine. (There will be) a fixed military post in San Giacomo Square. These are new ordinances decided on, (and) many ask why the system of (dealing with) minors was not taken into consideration, where there are precise rules but never respected, where the boys are left in disarray and without rules.