Rimini, August 11, 2026 – “They were there quietly, my son and his three friends, drinking a beer and joking. Then this group arrived, about ten guys. They approached and started provoking them, for no reason. My son tried to defend himself and at that point they especially targeted him. He had to run away and sought refuge inside the Boomerang. At that point, all hell broke loose: they threw everything at him.”
The father of the 21-year-old beaten tells all
The story starts here with Gianluca Bruschi, father of the 21-year-old from Rimini who was injured in the brutal assault that took place last week on the Tintori waterfront, near the port canal area. He reconstructs what allegedly happened before the footage went viral on social media: a few seconds of video showing a group of people rushing towards the Boomerang venue, with chairs and other objects flying while the young man desperately tries to take cover. The incident dates back to the night between last Thursday and Friday. We are in the port area, near the Boomerang. It should be noted that the venue had nothing to do with the origin of the assault and was already closing. The 21-year-old was nearby with three peers. “There were four of them, drinking a beer, laughing and joking. This group came from the beach, about ten people. My son told me that one of them even had a shirt pulled over his face, like a balaclava. And they had bottles in their hands.”
“The situation escalated quickly”
The four, Bruschi says, initially did not pay much attention to the group’s presence. Then something changed. “They came right towards them and started bothering them.”
The situation then escalated. “They started surrounding them, giving little slaps and slaps, throwing beer at them. The boys tried to back away, to move towards the waterfront, but they kept going.” The 21-year-old was hit several times. “One of them slapped my son two or three times. At the first he stayed still, at the second and third he realized the situation was getting bad. At that point he tried to defend himself.”
Here, according to the family’s reconstruction, a clarification must be made compared to the first descriptions of the episode circulating online: it was not a brawl between two groups, but an assault that began with the encirclement of the four boys and the subsequent reaction of the 21-year-old in an attempt to defend himself. It will be up to the police investigations to accurately reconstruct every step and any responsibilities.
“Forced to flee and take refuge at the Boomerang”
“At a certain point the boys had to run because they started chasing them. My son, since they were mainly targeting him, ran towards the Boomerang to seek refuge. He managed to get inside, but they came after him, some climbing over the fence.” The 21-year-old managed to shelter behind the counter, but the assault continued. “There were five or six of them throwing everything at him: chairs, bottles, anything they had at hand. A chair hit him.”
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This is the scene captured in the video, filmed by a tourist present at the scene and then becoming viral on social media.
Eight stitches for the deep wound on the forehead
When the group dispersed, the boy had a deep wound on his forehead and was bleeding. After a first visit to the Rimini emergency room, friends took him to Riccione.
“The cut was deep and needed stitching. When I arrived they were sewing it up. He was shaken, he started crying from the tension and what had just happened.”
Eight stitches were needed on the forehead. In the following days the 21-year-old remained under observation and, after medical checks, he went to the police to file a complaint. It will now be up to the investigators to fully reconstruct what happened and try to identify those responsible.
