The Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was last night rushed to hospital with his face covered in blood after being attacked at a rally in Milan.
The 73-year-old Premier was not seriously injured, but the incident marked a further humiliation in what has been an annus horribilis for the billionaire media mogul, already beset by sex scandals, corruption charges, Mafia accusations and a bitter separation from his wife of 19 years.
Mr Berlusconi had been addressing a rally of his People of Freedom party yesterday evening in a pedestrian area in the centre of Milan, his home city. Shortly after, at 6.20pm local time while he signed autographs, a protestor in the crowd hit the Premier squarely in the face with a heavy object, thought to be a statuette of the city's famous gothic cathedral, behind which Mr Berlusconi had just made a long rancorous speech to political supporters.
A clearly shocked Mr Berlusconi appeared to lurch forward in response to the attack, before being bundled into a car by security staff and rushed to the city's San Raffaele Hospital.
Doctors announced that the Prime Minister's injuries were not serious. However, Mr Berlusconi had suffered a "small fracture" of the nose, two broken teeth and an injury to the inside and outside of his lip, according to Paolo Klun, chief spokesman for the hospital. Mr Berlusconi was being kept in overnight as a precaution.
"I'm fine, I'm fine. I'm still here and they're not going to stop me," the Prime Minister was said to have later told friends and colleagues in hospital.
A 42-year-old man, named as Massimo Tartaglia, who has a history of mental health problems, according to news agency Ansa, was held at the scene and taken away by police.
Earlier in the evening, protestors at the rally were heard shouting "trials shame!", in reference to Mr Berlusconi's plans to shorten the length of most criminal trials – a move that would extricate the controversial tycoon from pressing corruption charges he faces, including the suggestion he bribed British lawyer David Mills $600,000 to lie in court on his behalf. Mr Berlusconi denies any wrong-doing.
Political supporters and opponents immediately condemned yesterday's incident. "What they did to Berlusconi was an act of terrorism," Umberto Bossi, a senior coalition partner in Mr Berlusconi's government, told Ansa. Opposition leader Pier Luigi Bersani said it was "an unspeakable act".
However, one outspoken Berlusconi critic, Antonio Di Pietro of the small Italy of Values political party, said that the Prime Minister, "with his behaviour and his 'I don't give a toss' attitude had instigated the violence".
Mr Di Pietro's comments drew instant tuts from other politicians. But many members of the public joked that there was a long list of suspects who might have put the attacker up to the assault.
Earlier this month tens of thousands of gathered in Rome to mark "No Berlusconi Day" and call for the Premier's resignation. In October it emerged that nearly 20,000 had joined the "Let's Kill Berlusconi" group on the social networking site Facebook, sparking a security alert.
At yesterday's rally, Mr Berlusconi had attacked widespread suggestions in the press that the wheels were coming off his premiership, with growing concerns about his attacks on Italy's institutions, including the "communist judiciary", even among senior members of his own coalition.
Most notable among these is the widening rift with the man who is supposed to be his main parliamentary ally, Gianfranco Fini, the lower house speaker who in private remarks has accused the Premier of acting like an "absolute monarch".
In yesterday evening's speech, Mr Berlusconi insisted: "The majority is strong, cohesive." His poll rating, though falling, is still around the 50 per cent mark.
Some commentators were asking last night, how much longer a 73-year-old, even one as resilient as Mr Berlusconi, could continue to take such political – and now physical – punishment.
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