Police uncover racist chat, 'let's attack foreigners and maranzas'

(ANSA) - ROME, 23 OTT - Police have uncovered a far-right racist online chatroom calling for attacks on foreigners and often second-generation North African heritage Italian street youth gang members known as maranzas. The chat group discovered by the police—uncovered during investigations following the demonstrations and shocking youth riots in Milan and other Italian cities on October 17 and 18—was created for the purpose of gathering in the centre of Crema near Cremona to conduct "patrols" aimed at "identifying and attacking foreigners and maranzas." The group's profile picture featured Benito Mussolini. It was managed by a 20-year-old Italian man with a prior record for theft and making threats. The chat contained numerous messages inciting violence, including racist and xenophobic content such as "let's start with the n**gers," "let's reopen the ovens," and "long live the Duce, forever." The chat was discovered during the analysis of a mobile phone belonging to the twenty-year-old man. He was stopped on October 19th by officers from the Cremona Police Headquarters—led by Police Commissioner Carlo Ambra—along with a group of about thirty other young people, most of whom were dressed in dark clothing and walking in a tight formation through the streets of Crema's city centre. During the encounter, a white balaclava and a hammer were also seized from a car. According to investigators, the chat—which had 44 members—was a response to threats of violence that had been circulated in another chat group, titled "Let's Occupy Schools in Cremona 19/10/2026." Messages found in the chat included: "Let's walk around Crema all together," "Arm yourselves quickly," "Get your batons out and come along," and "Put 10 euros' worth of gas in, and you've got yourselves 10 Molotov cocktails." (ANSA).
Read article...