Five people have been identified in connection with the alleged attack on actress Azmeri Haque Badhan in Italy, early Tuesday, according to BanglaFact, a fact-checking initiative operated by the Press Institute of Bangladesh.

BanglaFact said it identified the alleged perpetrators by analysing several videos of the incident.

It claimed that all five are active in Awami League and Chhatra League politics in Italy.

According to their Facebook profiles, BanglaFact identified the five as Shepol Mahmud Biplob, Howlader Monirul, Md Altaf Pahar, Elias Miah and Masum Khalashe.

Badhan alleged in a live broadcast from her verified Facebook page early Tuesday that she and her family members were harassed and physically attacked by a group of Bangladeshi expatriates at a park in Mestre.

She said she was at the park with her brother and his family when the group approached them and began harassing them.

According to Badhan, the attackers threw water and Coke at her, threw away her phone and struck her near the ear.

She also alleged that her brother’s young child was present during the incident and that the attackers repeatedly referred to her participation in the July uprising.

Badhan further claimed that the attackers identified themselves as ‘soldiers of Bangabandhu’ and forced her to chant ‘Joy Bangla, Joy Bangabandhu’.

‘They could have killed me,’ she said.

Badhan said local police arrived at the scene and escorted her family to safety. She later lodged a formal complaint with a local police station.

Bangladesh Embassy in Italy officials accompanied her to the police station, Bangladesh Embassy in Washington DC Press Minister Golam Mortoza said in a Facebook post on Wednesday.

According to Mortoza, two embassy officials travelled to Venice and accompanied Badhan to the police station, where she filed the complaint.

Video footage of the alleged attackers was also handed over to police, he said.