BR graffiti on new Moro monument (3)

(ANSA) - Rome, March 22 - A new monument paying tribute to former premier Aldo Moro and his security detail, who were murdered by Red Brigades (BR) terrorists in 1978, has been vandalised by graffiti. The letters BR were scrawled in red on the monument in Rome's via Fani, where Moro was kidnapped and his five bodyguards were killed.
    The base of the monument was vandalised a month ago, with swastikas and the words "death to the police" scrawled on it.
    Moro, a former leader of the once-dominant Christian Democrat party, was slain by the left-wing terrorists 55 days later.
    President Sergio Mattarella inaugurated the monument on Friday, the 40th anniversary of the day Moro was captured and his escort killed. Rome Mayor Virginia Raggi immediately ordered the monument cleaned, saying "the institutions will not be cowed".
    The victims' relatives issued a statement saying "after the recent words of former Red Brigader Barbara Balzerani on 'being the victim has become a job', this is a further outrage to their memory".
    "This episode should not be under-estimated," they said.
    Giovanni Ricci, son of murdered police escort Domenico Ricci, said he had met children of Red Brigaders who had asked forgiveness, "but it's not the children of the BR who should be asking forgiveness".
    The episode was condemned across the political spectrum and Vatican daily L'Osservatore Romano called it "ignoble".