This morning Aaron Bastani was attacked by a man near to his office at Novara Media. Aaron took to social media to reveal the nature of the incident:
‘I can’t quite believe what happened a few hours ago, but on my way to the train station, to head into the Novara media office, a man I’ve never seen before screamed my name while passing by and assaulted me. I was punched multiple times.
Fortunately I was able to pacify him, with subsequent assistance from a passer-by, until the police arrived. This is someone who knew my name. Fortunately there were multiple independent witnesses, and the man is now being questioned by police.
This was a completely unprovoked attack, near my home, in broad daylight. My suspicion is this was a politically motivated physical attack on a journalist.
The background to this is that I’ve been targeted by the far right before. It is a very real risk I live with.
Finally, my thanks to the police officers who arrived promptly, and behaved with the upmost professionalism and courtesy.’
I fully expect people to still be calling it twitter for a long time.