Italian diplomats in Berlin and Barcelona affected – dpa
Iin Berlin and Barcelona Italian diplomats have become victims of vandalism. Unknown people set fire to the car of an embassy employee in Berlin on Friday evening, as Italy’s Foreign Ministry announced on Saturday. The Berlin police confirmed the incident on request. According to a spokeswoman, the diplomatic car of an employee of the Italian embassy caught fire in Berlin-Schoeneberg early on Friday morning. State security is investigating that the police are assuming arson. It was initially unclear whether the action was aimed specifically at the diplomat or the Italian government. Nobody was injured in the incident. It often happens in Berlin that cars are set on fire.
In Barcelona, windows were smashed at the Italian Consulate General and a wall in the entrance area was defaced, according to the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. No one was hurt there either. The graffiti point to anarchists as the perpetrators.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in a statement, her government “is following with concern and vigilance these new instances of violence against our officials and diplomatic missions.” Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani checked whether Italian diplomatic missions and employees need better protection in the future.
At the beginning of December, the car of an embassy employee in Athens was attacked with Molotov cocktails and set on fire. A Greek anarchist group later claimed responsibility for the crime.
According to media reports, the security authorities in Italy are investigating a connection between the recent incidents and the hunger strike of the imprisoned anarchist Alfredo Cospito. The 55-year-old is being held in a prison in Sardinia for a bombing of a police academy in 2006 and a manager being shot in 2012. Because the state classifies him as a dangerous terrorist, he is subjected to the harshest conditions of imprisonment – which are normally reserved for top mafiosi. He has been on a hunger strike for around 100 days.
Pictures from the consulate showed the graffiti demanding amnesty and freedom for Cospito.