ROME: Two armed Turkish men were arrested in the central Italian city of Viterbo, near Rome, hours before a popular local festival, Italy’s Premier Giorgia Meloni said Thursday.
Meloni praised police and Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi for their “swift intervention” leading to the arrests on Wednesday night, which she said “allowed for the safe celebration of a unique event.”
Italian media reported that the two men were suspected of preparing an attack during Wednesday’s celebration, which was attended by Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani. Police in Viterbo were not immediately available to comment on the motive of the arrests or the media reports of a possible attack.
Thousands of people attend Viterbo’s Macchina di Santa Rosa festival, a religious procession and celebration held every year on Sept. 3 to honor the city’s patron saint, Santa Rosa. The main event involves 100 “Facchini di Santa Rosa,” porters carrying a towering, illuminated structure called the “Macchina,” which weighs nearly 5 tons, through the city’s narrow medieval streets.
In recent months, Turkish authorities have conducted major operations against Turkish crime groups operating abroad in cooperation with European police.
