About 3,800 educational centers in Italy have received this Thursday new threatening emails signed as Mikhail Andropov, the same alias used in messages sent the day before to some 6,000 schools across the country with false bomb alerts, although this time the text’s content has varied. Despite this, the Italian Executive has reiterated its instructions to those responsible for the centers to keep teaching activities running normally, unless regional authorities identify specific and well-founded reasons to activate the alarm.
"Attention. I inform you that today, November 12, the building has been mined and your lives are in danger at this very moment," begins the warning cited by the ADN Kronos agency and sent to a total of 3,778 schools spread throughout the entire national territory, including in Rome and in major cities as far apart as Milan and Palermo. Of all these centers, only 77 have been evacuated, and approximately half of them, 36, have been able to resume classes during the morning.
The email sender claims that the alleged "explosive device has been carefully manufactured and contains a mixture of ammonium nitrate and nitromethane (ANNM)". "Inside there are numerous metal fragments that, when detonated, will cause serious injuries to the survivors," it adds, assuring that it has already detonated a bomb out of suspicion that the authorities "will probably consider it a joke."
In the same message, it demands "the immediate resignation of the current prime minister, Giorgia Meloni," and states that it has placed "an explosive device in Palazzo Chigi," the seat of the Government and the official residence of the leader, a day after it claimed that it had placed another bomb in her car. Along these lines, the author threatens to cause "hundreds of victims" in case of "noncompliance" or if the authorities choose to "ignore" its demands. "With contempt, Mikhail Andropov," the email concludes.
For now, the public prosecutors' offices in Rome and Milan have opened investigations into this wave of threats, while the Government insists that the messages do not respond to an effective risk. "The objective," notes a statement from Palazzo Chigi, "is to prevent unfounded threats from disrupting essential services and to guarantee the safety of students, teachers, school staff, families and, in general, of the entire national community".
The opposition reproaches Meloni for the lack of proposals
This Thursday, at the headquarters of the Executive, a meeting was held between Giorgia Meloni and the main leaders of the opposition, whom the prime minister thanked for "their participation in debates, certainly frank and productive, about the bomb threats that yesterday affected thousands of Italian schools." The head of the Government has highlighted that "the image, necessary at this time, of a ruling class has been projected that, despite the numerous divisions that characterize it, knows, when the time comes, how to set them aside."
Meloni explained that "we came to this meeting with an assessment that we wanted to share; we shared the information we had and offered an idea; we presented how the Government intends to proceed and work. And, of course, the opposition must continue doing its work, which also includes overseeing the work that is being carried out."
Despite this, the opposition parties have criticized the attitude of the Executive. "They have not presented a single concrete proposal," censured the secretary general of the Democratic Party (PD), Elly Schlein, at the end of the meeting.
In similar terms, the leader of the Five Star Movement, Giuseppe Conte, has stressed that they have been "invited to present proposals, but it is the Government that should propose them." "It can’t be our responsibility; since we do not have all the information that the Government has, the burden of formulating proposals does not fall on us," he said.