Silvio Berlusconi gets hit in the face - What's next for No B Day?
Josh Heller and I decided that this Berlusconi-hit-in-the-face story had so much potential we should do a joint investigation. Josh took the angle of Italian douchebag punched in the face. I'll be focusing a little less on Jersey Shore.
The basic news of it is this (From The Guardian): A man with a history of mental instability (though he claims that wasn't a factor) hit the Italian PM in the face with a small replica of a Milan cathedral. Berlusconi's nose was fractured and two of his teeth broken.
According to the attacker, Berlusconi said right afterwards: "There is a climate of hatred. I expected this to happen."
Unsurprising given that Italy and many other European nations just celebrated No B Day: a protest dedicated solely to the Italian Prime Minister himself. (I was going to link you to the NoBerlusconiDay.org site but it's down; maybe it's also been taken down by Italian authorities.)
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="via user idv_modena on Flickr"]
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There seems to be a huge groundswell of anti-Berlusconi opinion building - but could the unflappable master of Italian politics and media swing this his way?
Back to The Guardian - what's next for Berlusconi and Italy?
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The basic news of it is this (From The Guardian): A man with a history of mental instability (though he claims that wasn't a factor) hit the Italian PM in the face with a small replica of a Milan cathedral. Berlusconi's nose was fractured and two of his teeth broken.
According to the attacker, Berlusconi said right afterwards: "There is a climate of hatred. I expected this to happen."
Unsurprising given that Italy and many other European nations just celebrated No B Day: a protest dedicated solely to the Italian Prime Minister himself. (I was going to link you to the NoBerlusconiDay.org site but it's down; maybe it's also been taken down by Italian authorities.)
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="via user idv_modena on Flickr"]
[/caption]There seems to be a huge groundswell of anti-Berlusconi opinion building - but could the unflappable master of Italian politics and media swing this his way?
Back to The Guardian - what's next for Berlusconi and Italy?
Professor James Walston, of the American University of Rome, said: "The difficulty for the opposition now will be to separate personal sympathy for someone who has had his faced smashed in from institutional antipathy towards what it is Berlusconi stands for."
He added: "The attack has had an immediate sympathy-generating effect and it could – but this is not yet clear – help his people to bounce legislation through parliament to change the relationship between the judiciary and the executive."
Among other questions still to be answered is whether the legendarily image-conscious Berlusconi, who has had a hair transplant and a facelift, would seek to disguise his injuries or flaunt the scars as evidence of the alleged savagery of his opponents.
Recently on the Current News Blog:
- Copenhagen: Walkouts continue
- Iran to try three hikers for espionage
- Top 10 stories of 2009: Obama, Afghanistan, Pirates, and more (Video)
- Copenhagen round-up: Walkouts, Wind farms, Monckton, Climategate and Video
- Uganda's new laws: Anti-gay and FGM
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