Young Italians have taken to social media in protest on the acquittal of a faculty caretaker who admitted to groping a feminine pupil after a choose guidelines the incident had not lasted lengthy sufficient to be against the law.

Italian Instagram and TikTok has been taken over by the #10secondi hashtag in response to the case which noticed 66-year-old Antonio Avola admit to grabbing a 17-year-old pupil at a Rome highschool solely to be let off fees of sexual assault.

Judges dominated that Avola's motion did "not constitute a crime" as a result of the act lasted underneath ten seconds.

The college caretaker confessed to groping the coed with out consent when confronted over the incident which passed off in April 2022.

Though he would inform the police that the groping had been a "joke".

The lady described going up a staircase with classmates when she felt a hand grasp her buttocks and underwear.

According to her account, when she rotated in shock, the person allegedly instructed her: "You know, love, I was just joking."

According to the judges, the incident "does not meet the criteria for a crime" because it lasted lower than 10 seconds.

"Men don't have the right to touch women's bodies, not even for a second - let alone 5 or 10."

According to studies, the coed expressed concern that the judges' determination will discourage women and girls from talking up in the event that they expertise comparable assaults, following the stunning ruling.

Recent information from the EU's Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) indicated that 70 % of Italian girls who skilled harassment from 2016 to 2021 selected to not report the incidents.