BARCELONA, Spain – Catalan police are investigating an assault that left a 21-year-old Italian man in an induced coma following an attack outside a nightclub in Barcelona’s Fòrum park area in Sant Adrià del Besòs on August 12, with the victim’s companion also sustaining injuries during the incident. The victim, identified as Nicola Maggiotto from Asolo in Italy’s Treviso region, had been on holiday in Barcelona with eight friends and had decided to spend the evening at the Sea Sea Beach nightclub in Port Fòrum when the attack occurred around 10:25 p.m.
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According to friends’ accounts, the group had stepped outside the venue and began speaking with another group of young people, with the conversation initially described as cordial. When the group decided to move toward a taxi stand, Nicola and a companion remained behind, and at that moment, a person from the other group assaulted them both, striking Nicola on the back of the neck and causing him to fall to the ground, after which the rest of the other group began kicking and punching him. Nicola’s friends immediately returned to intervene and prevent further violence, with the assailants fleeing the scene as soon as police sirens became audible.
The victim was transported to Hospital del Mar, where he remains in an induced coma, according to his father, while his friend did not require hospitalisation but received treatment for minor facial injuries. Nicola’s parents have travelled to Barcelona and filed a complaint with police, leading authorities to open an investigation to clarify the circumstances of the attack, with initial hypotheses ruling out robbery as a motive as investigators seek to determine whether there had been any exchange of insults or threats between the groups prior to the confrontation. The case has drawn attention to security concerns in Barcelona’s nightlife areas, with police continuing their search for the perpetrators while the young Italian remains hospitalised in critical condition.
