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Italian police shot outside prime minister's office Italian police shot outside prime minister's office
(about 3 hours later)
Two police officers were shot and wounded outside the Italian prime minister's office as Enrico Letta's new government was being sworn in around a mile away at the president's palace, RAI state television has reported. The ministers in Italy's new left-right coalition cabinet were sworn in on Sunday as gunfire broke out in the centre of Rome.
One man was arrested at the scene of the shooting, a witness said, and it was initially unclear whether the attack on Sunday was linked to the launch of the new government. About a mile away from where the ceremony was taking place, a lone gunman opened fire on Carabinieri officers standing guard outside the prime minister's office. One of the policemen was wounded in the neck, and another in the leg.
One of the officers was shot in the neck and was in a serious condition, a police official said. A pregnant female passerby was grazed by a bullet and was also taken to hospital. None of the victims of the shooting were in danger for their lives.
Letta, 46, the moderate deputy head of the Democratic party (PD), on Saturday ended two months of political stalemate since February's inconclusive election when he brought together former political rivals in a broad coalition government. The violence added a new layer of tension to the atmosphere in a profoundly divided country that had been politically deadlocked since a general election in February.
The rightwing mayor of Rome, Gianni Alemanno, said: "We shouldn't be surprised at a time when people are inveighing continually against the establishment."
Though he denied that it was aimed at any one group, Alemanno's remark was widely seen as a reference to the maverick Five Star Movement (M5S), which has bitterly attacked Italy's mainstream parties. Beppe Grillo, the ex-comedian who leads the M5S, condemned the shooting.
The suspected gunman was wrestled to the ground and disarmed by Carabinieri as he tried to flee. He was named as Luigi Preiti, a man in his late 40s from the mafia-ridden town of Rosarno, in Calabria.
He was initially described by the authorities as mentally disturbed, but his brother, Arcangelo Preiti, said: "Until yesterday morning, Luigi was a lucid and go-ahead person."
He said his brother, who has a son, had returned to Calabria from the north after losing his job and separating from his wife.
Preiti, who was dressed in a jacket, collar and tie, was said not to have any links with organised crime. Forensic officers reportedly found seven bullet casings in the broad, paved square in front of the prime minister's official residence.
Prime Minister Enrico Letta's new government was being sworn in just a mile away from the shooting. Letta, 46, the moderate deputy head of the Democratic party (PD), on Saturday ended two months of political stalemate since February's inconclusive election when he brought together former political rivals in a broad coalition government.
Letta's ministers stepped forward one by one to swear allegiance to the republic before President Giorgio Napolitano, who personally picked Letta as prime minister and had a central sole in the choice of his cabinet team.Letta's ministers stepped forward one by one to swear allegiance to the republic before President Giorgio Napolitano, who personally picked Letta as prime minister and had a central sole in the choice of his cabinet team.
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