Premier Paolo Gentiloni on
Thursday appealed against extremist political violence marring
the March 4 general-election campaign after a string of recent
incidents.
There could be "no justification", he said, for the
"recurrence of acts of violence against police or political
adversaries".
Gentiloni said there was "a risk of a copycat effect" after
the recent episodes.
"Here, too, the response of the government is very clear and
the response of the Democratic Party (PD) is also very clear.
"Extremist violence against police or political adversaries
is against our Constitutional and republican values".
Gentiloni added that recent electoral street violence was by
"tiny minorities" and there was "no risk" of a return to the
street battles of the 1970s.
"There is no design behind it..and I think we are perfectly
able to prevent these very serious episodes being contagious,
becoming widespread," he said.
Stressing that the government would be "vigilant", he said
the interior ministry and the secret services would be "very
attentive because it's clear that the election campaign is a bit
of a trigger".
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