Rome Prefect Franco Gabrielli said that the capital's special security plan for Catholic Church's upcoming Jubilee kicked into force on Monday. "Today the security measures for the Jubilee Year are being applied," Gabrielli said of the plan, which features the deployment of another 2,000 police officers in Rome. "The measures are much stricter, but nothing will change for the public's freedom or rights".
Also on Monday, Interior Minister Angelino Alfano dismissed complaints that Italian law enforcement lacks the equipment to face the threat posed by Islamist terrorists. "Funding for security has increased steadily since I have been minister," Alfano told Repubblica TV, La Repubblica daily's online television newscast.
"Our police forces have good equipment. I'll fight for it to be improved, but we can't beat ourselves up by claiming that the police's resources are inadequate". The minister played down fears of terror attacks in Italy, including from parents, saying he intended to send his children on school trips in the wake of the November 13 Islamic terrorist attacks in Paris that left 130 people dead. "I'm a dad to two children, aged 14 and nine, and they have school trips too and I'll allow them to go," he said. "And I stress that they do not have the same protection that their father does". He also said he disagreed with those who link the terror threat to the refugee crisis. "Most of the terrorists in Europe have been European citizens," he said. "It's a domestic issue, a European one". Alfano also said he ordered four Moroccan nationals expelled from the country because they are violent extremism sympathizers. "I signed this decree for reasons of national security," Alfano said. The four "adhered to and were committed to spreading violent extremism". They lived in Bologna province, were under surveillance, and were being investigated on suspicion of training recruits and other activities aimed at domestic and international terrorism.
The government of Premier Matteo Renzi said Monday it will add funding for national security into its 2016 budget bill.
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