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Police seek justice in Italy

May 20, 2012

Investigators are scrambling to find justice for the deadly school blast that claimed the life of a young student in Italy on Saturday. An official said on Sunday they are most likely looking for a single perpetrator.

https://p.dw.com/p/14yuP
Firefighters and forensic officers investigate the scene in front of the school where a bomb exploded in Brindisi, southern Italy.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa

Police hunted for clues on Sunday, scanning video footage in a bid to find the person responsible for the Italian high school bombing that claimed the life of a teenage girl. Several others were wounded in Saturday's bombing in the southern Italian town of Brindisi.

"It seems to be the work of a single person," said Marco Dinapoli, the Brindisi chief prosecutor, who is leading the investigation. He also noted that a suspect had been identified.

"The most probably hypothesis is that it was an isolated act," he said, giving no details about the suspect.

Placing blame

The bombing at the Morvillo Falcone school in Brindisi, which killed 16-year-old student Melissa Bassi and injured five other students, was initially blamed on the mafia. Some saw a link to organized crime because the school is named after an anti-mafia prosecutor and his wife who were assassinated 20 years ago this month.

Anti-mafia prosecutor Cataldo Motta reiterated on Sunday that he did not believe the mafia were behind the crime.

Motta had said on Saturday that the attack did not appear to be mafia related, citing the use of gas rather than dynamite, the mafia’s traditional explosive material.

Taking to the streets

Italians around the country responded to the violence with demonstrations to express their outrage over the teen's death.

Thousands of young people took to the streets of Italy's main cities in emotional protests against the violence. In Rome, teary-eyed students gathered at the Pantheon, with signs sporting messages such as "No one must die in a school."

In Brindisi, crowds carried signs saying "Brindisi cries with the victims."

Interior Minister Anna Maria Cancellieri referred to the attack as "unprecedented cruelty." She added that the focus now will be to gather the necessary intelligence to bring the culprit or culprits to justice.

tm/cpp (dpa, AFP, AP)