Italy must wake up to need to prevent radicalization
ROME- A government-appointed commission urged Italy on Thursday to develop strategies to prevent radicalization, saying that while the country so far has been spared the extremist attacks suffered elsewhere in Europe, current anti-terrorism measures are insufficient.
Premier Paolo Gentiloni told reporters after hearing the panel's recommendations that he agrees more must be done to check radicalization, which he says mainly manifests itself in Italy in prisons and on the internet.
Berlin Christmas market attacker Anis Amri is thought to have become radicalized while serving 3½ years in Italian prisons. The Tunisian was killed in a shootout with police near Milan Dec. 23.
"That we have a lower number of radicalized people or foreign fighters should in no way lead us to underestimate the phenomenon and the need to understand it," Gentiloni said.
