Police under fire for church attack probe

ROME – Italian police came under fire on Friday for „inexcusable alarmism“ caused by the arrest of five men on suspicion of plotting an attack on a church containing a fresco depicting the Prophet Mohammad in hell.

In what was originally described as an al Qaeda-linked plot, four young Moroccans and an Italian art historian were seized on Monday inside the 14th century Basilica of San Petronio in the northern Italian city of Bologna as they were videotaping the painting. With much fanfare, local police held a press conference to announce they had nabbed a group they believed was plotting an attack on the church, but on Wednesday the five were released by a judge for lack of evidence.

„The remarks by investigators in Bologna put our efforts to show the reliability and competence of our security apparatus in danger,“ Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu told Corriere della Sera in remarks published on Friday.

He said the arrest and media blitz sparked „inexcusable alarmism“ and that „if it had been a serious case, it would have been necessary to keep it confidential until there was concrete evidence“.

Newspapers and television showed the four smiling youths, aged 20 to 30, embracing each other and the Italian art history professor, Germano Caldon, as they met with supporters. The Moroccans all have jobs as woodworkers or stonemasons. When the five were arrested, investigating magistrate Paolo Giovagnoli told reporters the Moroccans had recorded their own voices on the videotape discussing plans to destroy the work of art, but the transcripts were vague.

According to the transcript, one of the men said:

„Have you seen where they have put him?“ referring to the fresco inspired by Dante‘s epic poem The Divine Comedy, which shows a nude Mohammad suffering in hell in the grips of a demon.

Another voice said: „What bin Laden does is what needs doing here.“

One police investigator was quoted by Ansa news agency as saying police found „interesting things“ in their apartments.

The news was different on Friday. One newspaper headline said: „They found bathing trunks in their backpacks“.

„They are anything but terrorists,“ Caldon, a retired professor who works with immigrants to help them integrate into Italian society, told Reuters in a telephone interview.

„Of course it‘s a scandal for them to see their prophet nude…and it‘s possible therefore that they spoke badly of the Catholics who would paint such a thing,“ he said.

„But these are people with their papers in order who work and need to be given the chance to integrate.“

It is the second time this year that investigators said they believed they had foiled possible attacks on the church.

In June magistrates were quoted as saying they had broken up a Milan-based „terror cell“ with links to Osama bin Laden‘s al Qaeda network which had the church in its sights. (Reuters)