{"id":16478,"date":"2009-12-14T04:21:44","date_gmt":"2009-12-14T02:21:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turkishforum.com.tr\/en\/content\/?p=16478"},"modified":"2023-04-06T15:26:10","modified_gmt":"2023-04-06T12:26:10","slug":"italys-pm-silvio-berlusconi-is-bloodied-by-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/2009\/12\/14\/italys-pm-silvio-berlusconi-is-bloodied-by-attack\/","title":{"rendered":"Italy’s PM Silvio Berlusconi is bloodied by attack"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of Italy is recovering in hospital after an assault left his face covered in blood following a rally in Milan.<\/strong><\/p>\n

He suffered two broken teeth, a minor nose fracture and cuts to his lip after being struck by a man wielding a souvenir model of the city’s cathedral.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mr Berlusconi, 73, tried to assure supporters afterwards he was OK.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The alleged attacker, who has a history of mental illness<\/em>, has been charged with throwing the souvenir.<\/p>\n

\"Alleged
Alleged attacker Massimo Tartaglia was detained at the scene<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Massimo Tartaglia, 42, had no previous criminal record, police were quoted as saying.<\/p>\n

After the attack on Sunday evening the prime minister, looking dazed, was helped to his feet by aides and put in a car. He got out and tried to climb on the car to show he was all right, before being driven away.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was a typical show of defiance by a political fighter, says the BBC’s Duncan Kennedy in Rome.<\/p>\n

Mr Berlusconi insisted he was well at the hospital.<\/p>\n

‘Metal or plaster’<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mr Berlusconi had been greeting supporters in a square in Milan when the assault took place.<\/p>\n

There are said to have been scuffles between hecklers and security staff during the rally.<\/p>\n

At one point in his speech, Mr Berlusconi responded to his critics in Italy by declaring himself to be “good-looking” and “a decent chap”.<\/p>\n

The Italian leader was apparently signing autographs when he was struck with the souvenir.<\/p>\n

Video of the assault shows Mr Berlusconi suddenly grimacing in pain.<\/p>\n

It is not clear from the footage what happened but the object appears to have been thrown at his face.<\/p>\n

Police charged Mr Tartaglia with aggravated assault for hurling the miniature replica at Mr Berlusconi.<\/p>\n

The replica of the cathedral, famous for its gothic spires<\/em>, was initially said to be made of metal but later reports suggested it was plaster.<\/p>\n

Under pressure<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Italian prime minister was previously assaulted in the street on New Year’s Eve 2004, when a tourist visiting Rome struck him with a camera at a rally in the capital’s Piazza Navona.<\/p>\n

His attacker, a bricklayer<\/strong><\/em> from northern Italy, reportedly told police he had attacked Mr Berlusconi because he hated him. The politician suffered a bruise.<\/p>\n

Mr Berlusconi has been under pressure in recent months.<\/p>\n

His private life has been in the spotlight, amid allegations that he slept with prostitutes, and after his wife filed for divorce.<\/p>\n

He has dismissed accusations of ties to the Mafia, and criminal cases against him have resumed after a law giving him immunity was overturned.<\/p>\n

A week ago tens of thousands of people attended an anti-Berlusconi rally in Rome.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/news.bbc.co.uk\/2\/hi\/europe\/8410946.stm<\/span><\/p>\n

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Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of Italy is recovering in hospital after an assault left his face covered in blood following a rally in Milan. He suffered two broken teeth, a minor nose fracture and cuts to his lip after being struck by a man wielding a souvenir model of the city’s cathedral. Mr Berlusconi, 73, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":16479,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[679],"tags":[2573,2013],"class_list":["post-16478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-italy-eu-members-european-countries-english","tag-bricklayers-hate-attack","tag-silvio-berlusconi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16478\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}