Schools across Italy were evacuated on Wednesday following a series of bomb threats, which Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni described as hoaxes, insisting that there was no concrete danger.
The threats, which reportedly affected about 6,000 schools, according to Italian news agency Ansa, citing the Education Ministry, also prompted security concerns in Britain and Ireland, where threatening emails were sent to hundreds of schools.
Meloni convened a government meeting with security and intelligence chiefs on Wednesday to review the incidents.
Although it was unclear how many Italian schools evacuated their students, crowds of schoolchildren were seen outside educational institutions in different parts of the country.
Some students said they had to leave their classrooms hurriedly, abandoning their belongings while awaiting police checks.
A 19-year-old student at Rome’s Virgilio High School, Sofia De Ponte, told AFP that the school’s principal announced that a bomb threat had been received by email before ordering an evacuation.
“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,” she said.
De Ponte said the police had yet to arrive because “there’s a long waiting list with all the schools”.
“We’re still here waiting,” another student, Elena Sicignano, 19, said.
At Brera school in Milan, art teacher Violetta Uboldi said some students appeared delighted by the unexpected break from classes.
“I think there was a cry of joy because school was over. That was the reaction,” she said.
However, a 16-year-old student, Angelica, said the situation initially caused panic because a teacher had told them it was not a drill.
Italian media reported that the threatening email was purportedly signed by a person identified as “Mikhail Andropov, leader of the Vilayat of Misoginistan”.
The message claimed that an explosive device had been placed inside a school building and could be detonated remotely.
Government Rules Out Immediate Danger
The Italian government sought to reassure the public, saying preliminary security checks had not uncovered evidence of an imminent threat.
In a Facebook post, Meloni said: “At present, based on the checks carried out, no element has emerged that would suggest there is a concrete danger.”
She added that the reports appeared to be part of a strategy designed to cause alarm and concern, adding that investigations were ongoing.
Antonello Giannelli, president of the ANP association of Italian school heads, also described the threats as clearly fake.
However, he warned that the incident demonstrated how irresponsible actions, amplified by modern communication tools, could cause widespread disruption.
“We hope that full light will quickly be shed on the origin of these threats and that those responsible will be identified,” he said.
The latest incidents come amid a series of hoax bomb alerts in recent weeks, including threats targeting flights across Europe and cyberattacks on supermarket refrigeration systems in several European countries, including Italy.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani also said on Saturday that cybercriminals were targeting him and circulating his personal information online because of Italy’s support for Ukraine.
The incidents have heightened concerns across Europe about the possibility of an escalation in hybrid warfare.
In Britain and Ireland, police said on Wednesday they were investigating threatening emails sent to hundreds of schools but urged school authorities not to evacuate their premises, describing the messages as hoaxes.
However, The Herald newspaper reported that several schools in Scotland had been evacuated, with pupils sent home.
AFP
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