Rome (AFP) — Schools were evacuated across Italy on Wednesday following a series of hoax bomb threats, but Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said there was no “concrete danger”.
asserted
Meloni → evacuate → threats
Similar hoax threats were reported in schools in Britain and Ireland, which reportedly prompted some evacuations in Scotland.
uncertain
which → report → Scotland
Meloni said she had called a government meeting with security and intelligence chiefs for Wednesday to discuss the threats.
asserted
she → say → threats
Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara said 312 schools had received the threats but urged people not to panic, according to Italian media.
uncertain
schools → say → media
Crowds of evacuated schoolchildren could be seen outside their schools in different parts of the country.
uncertain
Crowds → evacuate → country
Some said they had to evacuate quickly and left belongings inside that they could not recover before police checks.
uncertain
they → say → checks
“The principal came out into the courtyard and told us that an email had come in, a bomb threat, and right after that the building was evacuated,” Sofia De Ponte, a 19-year-old student at Rome’s Virgilio high school, told AFP.
asserted
Ponte → come → AFP
De Ponte said the police had still not arrived because “there’s a long waiting list with all the schools”.
asserted
police → say → schools
“We’re still here waiting,” said her fellow pupil Elena Sicignano, 19.
asserted
pupil → ’re → ?
Violetta Uboldi, an art teacher at Brera school in Milan, said children appeared happy at being evacuated.
asserted
children → say → Milan
“I think there was a cry of joy because school was over.
asserted
school → think → joy
That was the reaction,” she said.
asserted
she → say → ?
But Angelica, 16, a student at the school, said she was told by a teacher that it was not a drill, “so we panicked a bit”.
asserted
we → say → teacher
Italian media reports said the bomb threat was in an email purportedly from a “Mikhail Andropov, leader of the Vilayat of Misoginistan”.
asserted
threat → say → Misoginistan
“I have just left in your building, inside a plastic bag, a powerful explosive with remote detonation,” the email said.
asserted
email → leave → detonation
– ‘Damage and disruption’ –
The government sought to play down the incident.
asserted
government → seek → incident
“At present, based on the checks carried out, no element has emerged that would suggest there is a concrete danger,” Meloni said in a Facebook post.
“The reports instead appear to be linked to a strategy aimed at generating alarm and concern, which is currently the subject of all the necessary in-depth investigations,” Meloni said.
asserted
Meloni → base → investigations
Antonello Giannelli, president of the ANP association of Italian school heads, said in a statement the threats were “clearly fake”.
asserted
threats → say → statement
But he added: “This episode shows how much irresponsibility, when combined with the extraordinary communicative power of the tools we have today, can cause damage and disruption on a large scale”.
asserted
we → add → scale
“We hope that full light will quickly be shed on the origin of these threats and that those responsible will be identified,” he said.
asserted
he → hope → threats
The threats come after a series of hoax bomb alerts in recent weeks, including on flights across Europe and cyber attacks on supermarket refrigeration systems in several European countries, including Italy.
asserted
threats → come → Italy
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on Saturday he was being targeted by “cyber criminals” who were sharing his personal data online because of Italy’s support for Ukraine.
asserted
who → say → Ukraine
The attacks have prompted growing concern in Europe about the possibility of an escalation in hybrid warfare.
asserted
attacks → prompt → warfare
Police in Britain and Ireland on Wednesday said they were investigating threatening emails sent to hundreds of schools but urged teachers not to evacuate their premises as they dismissed the messages as hoaxes.
asserted
they → say → hoaxes
But The Herald newspaper reported several Scottish schools had been evacuated, with pupils sent home.
asserted
pupils → report → ?
The Aporia
