From schools to flights, a spate of false alarms in the space of a month
Since the second half of October, thousands of emails containing threats of imminent bomb blasts have caused days of chaos across half of Europe, with hundreds of schools evacuated and flights diverted.
The false bomb alerts that have affected around 6,000 schools across Italia are merely the latest in a long series of incidents that have been affecting much of the continent for the past month. Since the second half of October, waves of emails, messages and phone calls threatening imminent bomb explosions have repeatedly caused days of chaos across half of Europe, with hundreds of schools evacuated and flights diverted.
The first warnings
Prior to the bomb threats on 11 November, there had been a number of incidents affecting several European countries, from the United Kingdom to Serbia. The incidents began on 19 October, when false reports of bomb attacks affected hundreds of schools in Northern Ireland, Scotland, Hungary and Serbia. On that occasion, many schools were evacuated as a precaution. It has not yet been clarified whether the incidents in the various countries were linked.
In Northern Ireland, the threatening message is believed to have originated from Islamic extremists. According to the Northern Irish police, up to 300 schools had received the same email, containing a general threat, which was also sent to a number of schools across the United Kingdom. In Hungary, police reported that emails had been sent to local media claiming that bombs had been planted in over 70 schools across the country. Many schools were evacuated, but the authorities subsequently confirmed that no explosives had been found. In neighbouring Serbia, the state broadcaster RTS reported that over a hundred schools had received similar threats.
Threats against Italian schools
Italian schools, too, had already been targeted by false bomb threats before the escalation on 11 November. On 2 November, an email signed ‘Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ was sent to the headteachers of 279 schools, announcing that a bag containing explosives and a detonator had been left behind and would be set off in an hour’s time. They also added that, to prove this was no joke, they would detonate a bomb on a flight bound for Rome.
The regions affected on that occasion included Lombardy, Veneto, Friuli, Liguria, Lazio and Tuscany. ‘We are faced with the actions of truly irresponsible individuals who are using email to spread panic not only amongst pupils and teachers, but also amongst families, who have the right to feel that school is a safe and secure place, protected even from the actions of those who think they can play on people’s fears, creating a climate of tension and intimidation’ commented the governor of Veneto, Alberto Stefani.
