Bologna, June 4, 2026 – “Can I borrow your bike for a ride?”. A seemingly innocuous request, but one that turned into an episode of insecurity and bullying against two eleven-year-olds who, in Cavina park in Borgo Panigale, were robbed of their bicycles. Only one, with the intervention of young people and adults who were in the green area of via Martin Luther King, was returned to its rightful owner.
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The police intervened on the scene, intent on clarifying the outlines of a story rooted in youth distress. Between 6 PM and 7 PM, the two children were alone in the park.
The threatening request, then a baton appears
Suddenly, “two 14-year-old boys, who probably attend the third year of middle school in the same complex as our children, approached asking if they could take a bike ride – recounts the father of one of the two victims, who has not yet recovered his vehicle –. Slowly the request became increasingly more threatening and, when one of the two children asked for his bike back, one of the two older boys showed them an object,” which the victims described as “an extendable baton.”
What happened is very serious: it’s one thing if, unfortunately, you suffer a theft from your home garden, it’s another thing if a child is threatened and hit with a baton
Bystanders intervene, only one bike recovered
The attitude became increasingly more violent, until “the boy who had the baton in his hand threw it at him. One child took two very strong blows – specifies the parent –, both were scared and shaken.”
Seeing the scene, “some park users intervened and, after 15 minutes, they tracked down the two bullies with only one bicycle: forced by these people, the bike was returned.”
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But there is no trace of the two-wheeled vehicle of one of the two victims: “The boy who took it then ran away by getting on a bus.”
He is a foreign minor who is currently in a community. The other boy, also foreign, confessed to the act and returned the bike to the other child. The perpetrators are not liable due to their age.
The bike given as a birthday present to one of the two children has disappeared
“That bike was given to my son for his last birthday and we would like it back – continues the father –. What happened is very serious: it’s one thing if, unfortunately, you suffer a theft from your home garden, it’s another thing if a child is threatened and hit with a baton.”
“It also happens at school that third-grade kids adopt bullying attitudes, saying that younger children cannot pass through certain places or asking for their snacks.”
For this reason, “we would like to have a discussion with the teachers and educators, bringing what happened into the classrooms. A situation that needs to be resolved within the neighborhood for our children,” concludes the parent.
