At thirteen I defeated the weight of silence in Rome and took to the streets

They attacked me with a brass knuckle, and I am only thirteen years old. I have always lived in Rome; I am a volunteer of the Youth for Peace who then organized a demonstration right where they attacked me to defend my friends. The voluntary association called the Community of Sant ‘Egidio of Rome gave me a hand to take to the streets in the Marconi area. On the day of my attack, a teenager punched me in the face while I was with my friends at the Tiber Marconi Park and in the neighbourhood, everyone knows me because I am a volunteer of the Youth for Peace of the Community of Sant ‘Egidio in Rome.

Before this sunny day of April 12, 2026, when we organized a flash-mob in the green area, according to the organizers, three hundred people participated to say enough to the violence and there was also the president of the municipal council as well as the councillor for the environment who is a woman. Often children and adolescents end up in the newspaper for aggression and violence but rarely do victims speak as in my case, so I hope to be as an example for everyone. My parents who are in contact with the volunteers of Sant ‘Egidio learned of my attack that took place on April 3 at the Tiber Marconi park that I frequent very often to meet my friends and my friends I happened to come across a group of my peers who started to make fun of my friends, As they had already done the day before, April 2nd, when I was not there.

The association said that I always put myself in line to defend others and I had also tried to talk to these peers to convince them to stop making fun of them. My friends and I then went away to drink freshwater gushing from one of the little beautiful fountains in the park and there I was surrounded by the guys from the first group I had met. There were at least fifteen, nice courage fifteen people against one, what bastards! I was a little scared, but I did not let be myself intimidated even when one of them punched me in the face with a brass knuckle and fractured my jaw. My friends intervened immediately and called my parents while these braggarts who had threatened and beaten me and who had made fun of my friends ran away. So brave and then eventually run away when it comes to facing difficulties! Truly an incredible thing to think about! They immediately took me to the Bambin Gesù hospital in Rome where I was hospitalized for five days and operated on me for a fractured jaw. I told everything to my parents who denounced my attackers. My friends are still upset but they are happy about this flash-mob because my fellow adventurers are also members of the Youth for Peace and the day organized today had a nice demonstration and a flash-mob in what we consider our park, a beautiful park called Parco Tevere Marconi. We are against all violence, all physical and verbal aggression and against bullying and discrimination and most of us who think so. Today we are here to remind us that we young people must grow up and to invite more young people to join our peace movement. Il mio amico Amir

Among the speeches was that of Amir, one of the Youth for Peace: "Today we are here at the park overlooking the Lungo Tevere Pietra Papa, which runs along our river in Rome, to demonstrate against violence among young people. Every day we hear a new episode of violence, especially among young people, and this often makes us feel sad and powerless. For me, the Youth for Peace is a group of friends who accept each other for their differences but who together all have the same ideal: to help others".

The boy said: If facing and defeating bullies brings this reaction of putting oneself in then against one, today we are three hundred people against fifteen bullies and we demonstrate peacefully and we have organized a flash-mob in which the residents of the neighbourhood also participated not to keep silent about the episodes of violence and to offer our solidarity to the victims of violence in the area. Victims of violence who must never feel alone. It is important that the idea was going to spread that when you suffer violence you need to have someone you can count on such as family, friends, inhabitants of the neighbourhood and associations. We ideally embrace anyone who has suffered violence and we are in solidarity with those who have suffered it. My friends sometimes sing me the theme song in Italian of the cartoon The Tiger Man but unlike the Tiger Man I still don't go out in the evening because I'm too young and my parents don't want to; in summer I just go out until midnight and look at the stars with my friends.

But I admit that it has a certain effect to hear the theme song of the tiger man. Sing it together with us!

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They attacked me with a brass knuckle, and I am only thirteen years old. I have always lived in Rome; I am a volunteer of the Youth for Peace who then organized a demonstration right where they attacked me to defend my friends. The voluntary association called the Community of Sant ‘Egidio of Rome gave me a hand to take to the streets in the Marconi area. On the day of my attack, a teenager punched me in the face while I was with my friends at the Tiber Marconi Park and in the neighbourhood, everyone knows me because I am a volunteer of the Youth for Peace of the Community of Sant ‘Egidio in Rome.

Before this sunny day of April 12, 2026, when we organized a flash-mob in the green area, according to the organizers, three hundred people participated to say enough to the violence and there was also the president of the municipal council as well as the councillor for the environment who is a woman. Often children and adolescents end up in the newspaper for aggression and violence but rarely do victims speak as in my case, so I hope to be as an example for everyone. My parents who are in contact with the volunteers of Sant ‘Egidio learned of my attack that took place on April 3 at the Tiber Marconi park that I frequent very often to meet my friends and my friends I happened to come across a group of my peers who started to make fun of my friends, As they had already done the day before, April 2nd, when I was not there.

The association said that I always put myself in line to defend others and I had also tried to talk to these peers to convince them to stop making fun of them. My friends and I then went away to drink freshwater gushing from one of the little beautiful fountains in the park and there I was surrounded by the guys from the first group I had met. There were at least fifteen, nice courage fifteen people against one, what bastards! I was a little scared, but I did not let be myself intimidated even when one of them punched me in the face with a brass knuckle and fractured my jaw. My friends intervened immediately and called my parents while these braggarts who had threatened and beaten me and who had made fun of my friends ran away. So brave and then eventually run away when it comes to facing difficulties! Truly an incredible thing to think about! They immediately took me to the Bambin Gesù hospital in Rome where I was hospitalized for five days and operated on me for a fractured jaw. I told everything to my parents who denounced my attackers. My friends are still upset but they are happy about this flash-mob because my fellow adventurers are also members of the Youth for Peace and the day organized today had a nice demonstration and a flash-mob in what we consider our park, a beautiful park called Parco Tevere Marconi. We are against all violence, all physical and verbal aggression and against bullying and discrimination and most of us who think so. Today we are here to remind us that we young people must grow up and to invite more young people to join our peace movement. Il mio amico Amir

Among the speeches was that of Amir, one of the Youth for Peace: "Today we are here at the park overlooking the Lungo Tevere Pietra Papa, which runs along our river in Rome, to demonstrate against violence among young people. Every day we hear a new episode of violence, especially among young people, and this often makes us feel sad and powerless. For me, the Youth for Peace is a group of friends who accept each other for their differences but who together all have the same ideal: to help others".

The boy said: If facing and defeating bullies brings this reaction of putting oneself in then against one, today we are three hundred people against fifteen bullies and we demonstrate peacefully and we have organized a flash-mob in which the residents of the neighbourhood also participated not to keep silent about the episodes of violence and to offer our solidarity to the victims of violence in the area. Victims of violence who must never feel alone. It is important that the idea was going to spread that when you suffer violence you need to have someone you can count on such as family, friends, inhabitants of the neighbourhood and associations. We ideally embrace anyone who has suffered violence and we are in solidarity with those who have suffered it. My friends sometimes sing me the theme song in Italian of the cartoon The Tiger Man but unlike the Tiger Man I still don't go out in the evening because I'm too young and my parents don't want to; in summer I just go out until midnight and look at the stars with my friends.

But I admit that it has a certain effect to hear the theme song of the tiger man. Sing it together with us!