A student victim of the mass New Year’s Eve sexual assault in Milan has described how she and her friends were attacked for ten minutes during the harrowing affair.
Laura Barbier, one of six Belgians who visited the Piazza del Duomo to watch the fireworks with the British victims, recalled the “nightmare” of a group of about 30 people who grabbed their hands and touched them under their clothes during the assault.
She told a Belgian outlet. Sudinfo how three of the four students were sexually assaulted, one groped on the breasts and buttocks.
“They put their hands in my pants,” said the 20-year-old. “It went so far… There were so many people around us that we couldn’t move.”
Italian prosecutors have now opened an investigation into allegations of group sexual violence, compiling a dossier “on the basis of the numerous press articles collected.”
It comes as a British student in the group bravely told MailOnline how she was attacked by an “organised” group of men she didn’t know as they brought in the new year.
Imogen, who we have identified only by her name, shared a horrifying testimony of how she was “grabbed and dragged back” by strangers in the crowd, who she claims attempted to sexually assault her with their hands as another rape allegedly mentioned.
She would heroically attempt to save another British woman who was allegedly being sexually assaulted by the mob, allowing her to free herself before fighting off the men herself and causing the crowd to disperse.
The 19-year-old told how police initially ignored her complaints until she showed how she was bleeding from fighting off her attackers. They then consoled her and told her that this was a “known issue”, stating that the attackers were Bangladeshi men.
Laura Barbier (right), 20, a student from Liège, Belgium, had traveled to Milan, Italy, with five friends aged between 20 and 21 to celebrate the New Year. They joined a British group that also reported being attacked by a group of men between 20 and 40 years old.

Images from New Year’s Eve in Piazza del Duomo show chaotic scenes

Brit heroine Imogen (left) attempted to save another British woman who was being sexually assaulted by a mob of attackers while she herself was attacked.
Investigators in Italy are still trying to speak to the Belgian victims to progress their case and have been allowed to review CCTV footage.
Imogen, the British victim, told MailOnline that she is currently in the process of lodging a legal complaint through the Italian embassy in England, and that investigators are speaking to other women to understand the full “scale” of the attack.
He said there was no police presence at the scene when they arrived and there was no designated area from which fireworks would be launched.
Video footage from the scene showed men in balaclavas shooting their own fireworks into the crowd at the time of the attacks.
Laura’s testimony echoed Imogen’s description of how her attackers grabbed members of the group and held them down while some touched them under their clothes.
“They touched our bodies, our clothes, and some of us, including me, inside our clothes,” Laura told Sudinfo.
He said they managed to get under their clothes even though they were wearing jackets and scarves.
Imogen said she was wearing a long dress, a long coat and a scarf when she was attacked.
The harrowing testimonies have sparked outrage in Italy, Belgium and the United Kingdom, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is now seeking answers for the victims.
Italian media report that Meloni has personally contacted the Milan prefecture requesting step-by-step updates on the investigations.

‘Three of us four girls were sexually assaulted. A friend had her breasts touched and her buttocks touched. (The men) put their hands in my pants. It went too far,” Laura (pictured) told Belgian broadcaster RTL.
British victim Imogen, who has since returned to her studies in the UK, shared her testimony of the attack with MailOnline and Sudinfo last week.
She said the group began to feel uncomfortable when they began receiving unwanted attention from men in the crowd, and claimed that one man tried to grope her and tugged at her dress as she passed through the square.
As the countdown to midnight began, the boys in the group turned to record the New Year celebrations.
Imogen said that at that moment, they “instantly grabbed her from behind and pulled her away from my friends.”
‘They grabbed my arms and hands so I couldn’t defend myself, while I was surrounded by a group in what appeared to be an organized attack. Several men, at the same time, began to grope me, while another tried to lift my dress.
“As I panicked and fought for freedom, it became clear that they enjoyed my distress and this only excited my attackers.”
Imogen claims that another man tried to sexually assault her and that she overheard one of the men mention rape.
“That’s when my fight became a fight for survival,” he said.
She described the “blur” as she managed to free her arms and screamed before being found by her friends.
She alleged that the men threw an unknown liquid at them, which stung her eyes and nose and left them struggling to breathe.
“We began to make our way blindly through the crowd while they set off flares and firecrackers in an attempt to hurt us,” he said.
When they finally managed to escape, the attackers chased the group and allegedly began fighting the men.
Imogen said she was grabbed again and separated from the group, where she heard another English woman next to her also being held down and sexually assaulted by a group.
The brave teen attempted to intervene, allowing the woman to free herself.
He said when he finally found the police, they initially told him they “couldn’t do anything.”
His attitude changed, he said, when he showed them the cuts from the attack.

The video shows sparklers lit in the crowd as people gathered to celebrate the New Year in Milan.

Police at Milan Cathedral on December 31. Authorities are said to have designated certain areas as “red zones” to increase security during New Year’s Eve celebrations.
Investigators are currently looking into what happened in Milan on New Year’s Eve.
The Italian press has shared conflicting (and speculative) reports about the background and motive of the attackers.
Imogen said she found it “disgusting that people were using our traumatic history to push a political agenda”.
‘I want people to understand that many of the descriptions I have read are completely false.
“I will not allow my sexual attack to become an opportunity to divide people; it is a moment to unite the women and people of Italy, outraged that this was allowed to happen during a joyful celebration.”
The Italian news agency ANSA reported that the men had been identified only as second-generation North African men, contrary to claims made by Italian police at the scene.
“It is a complete and blatant lie to claim that our group was attacked by men holding Palestinian flags,” Imogen said. Sudinfo.
“I am very upset after reading many articles claiming it was a matter of religion, indirectly blaming Islam, while claiming our attack was ‘Taharrush Gamea,'” Imogen said.
‘The evil we experienced that night was the absolute absence of religion. These men had no other motive than to take advantage of innocent women, knowing that they would escape without suffering the consequences.