372. Italy’s Ministers signing in at the sound of gun shots aimed to kill
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| Quirinale Residence of the President |
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| Ministers taking the oath at the Quirinale |
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| Palazzo Chigi where the shooting took place |
The air was festive on the quiet
Sunday morning as the neo- ministers arrived at the President’s residence to
take their oath; even the sun, after days of rain had made an appearance. The
atmosphere was joyous and relaxed, greeting one another like the first day back
at school, aware that this was a moment which would be recorded in history
since never before had so many political forces formed a coalition and glad to
have done so.
For this reason, the formation of this
government was not the usual formation, nor was it to be a moment that would go
unnoticed or forgotten. But if such were extraordinary the circumstances of
this event, it was about to become even more so, for in another area of the
centre of Rome, Luigi Preiti was about to divert all the attention away from
the Quirinale, to just outside the Prime Minister’s residence, Palazzo Chigi
where he had pulled out a gun and fired seven shots in succession before being
stopped.
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| One of the wounded Carabinieri |
Fortunately no one was killed. One
of the Carabinieri was hit in both legs while the other was hit in the neck and
may have caused permanent injuries to his spine. A passerby too was hit, a woman
walking with her husband, who fortunately was hit only superficially on the arm-
however not a nice experience, especially if you are pregnant, as she was.
It is uncanny to think that at the
precise moment the new Prime Minister, the 47 years old Enrico Letta (left-wing)was
taking the oath, the whole media was suddenly sidetracked to become focused on
the shooting that was taking place outside Palazzo Chigi. What was being shown
on TV was no longer the ceremony that was taking place at the Quirinale but
replaced by images of people and police clearing the area a few blocks away.
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| Luigi Preiti nailed to the floor |
However, at the Quirinale, only the
neo-Minister of the Interior, the 42 years old Angelino Alfano (right-wing)was
informed, possibly. For certain no one else knew anything about it until the
end of the ceremony and just as they were to pose for the classical photo do we
see an officer hand President Napolitano a piece of paper, but the President
said nothing until after the photo was taken even though people were giving
each other knowing looks that something was going on.
Therefore, no festivities nor cork
popping, not even the customary tri-colour air plane salute.
Someone, somewhere
doesn’t want this brave new government to take flight.
More next time…
