Bologna's public order and
security committee on Thursday introduced special protection for
beleaguered university professor and Corriere della Sera leader
writer Angelo Panebianco after protesters from leftist youth
collectives blocked his lectures earlier in the week, claiming
his editorials chiding Italy for excessive pacifism were
warmongering.
Provisions have also been made to guarantee the smooth
inauguration of the academic year next Monday.
Panebianco's political science lectures will go ahead as
normal.
Meanwhile in an op-ed published in Corriere della Sera on
Thursday Panebianco said he was "shaken (but not intimidated)"
by the events.
"These individuals have taken the liberty to call into
question my professional integrity," he wrote.
On February 16 Panebianco editorialized that Italy has
relied so long on United States military protection that it
finds itself unprepared to defend itself against current
threats, such as the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) insurgency
in Libya.
"The 'good' pacificist sentiments we developed - not only
the entirely healthy idea that everything possible must be done
to avert war, but also the sick notion that one must not equip
oneself for self-defence - are a luxury we have been able to
afford thanks to (US) protection," Panebianco wrote in an op-ed
titled 'Will We Ever Be Ready in Libya?'
Police on Wednesday said they had identified five or six
members of the CUA collective responsible for a protest on
Monday and six or seven members of the HOBO collective in
relation to a similar protest the following day.
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