A 21-year-old Italian man is in a medically induced coma with brain injuries after being attacked outside a bar in Barcelona on Wednesday night, and Spanish authorities have opened an investigation into the assault.
Nicola Maggiotto, from Asolo in northern Italy, was struck violently on the back of the head shortly after 10 p.m. when a group of about a dozen Spanish-speaking youths approached him and his friends. Nothing was taken during the assault, and his prognosis remains guarded. A friend who tried to intervene sustained a cheekbone injury requiring stitches but was discharged after several hours.
Italian consular assistance has been activated for the victim and his family, while Maggiotto remains in intensive care at a Barcelona hospital.