Italy's Meloni seeks to curb hoax bomb evacuations

Detailed summary

ROME, Nov 12 - Italy's government will introduce new measures for handling security alerts, including mass threat emails, under which buildings would generally not be evacuated…

ROME, Nov 12 - More than 1,800 Italian schools received hoax bomb warnings on Thursday but many opted to remain open, following new advice from the government for handling such security threats.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government said public buildings should be cleared only if there is concrete evidence of danger after a wave of fake bomb alerts on Wednesday triggered school closures across Italy.

On Thursday, 1,803 schools received threats and some were evacuated, although hundreds opted to ignore the warnings or quickly reopen following the new guidance.

The alarm had been more widespread on Wednesday, when 6,300 schools were affected and panic spread among parents.

These were the latest in a series of hoaxes and cyberattacks that have recently also targeted supermarkets, blood banks, air traffic systems and broadcasters across Europe.

As the alarm spread for a second day, Meloni summoned opposition leaders to her office for talks on how to handle similar incidents and announced plans for a protocol aimed at limiting their impact.

"Buildings should not be evacuated in the absence of concrete elements beyond the mere receipt of a mass email that would suggest a genuine danger exists," the prime minister's office said.

The warnings on Thursday were again signed by "Mikhail Andropov" and included another threat to the prime minister, who was also targeted on Wednesday.

Some European officials suspect Russia may be behind a campaign of disruption to everyday life in European nations supporting Ukraine after Moscow's invasion.

Opening of the article, excerpted from The Straits Times. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.