Police in Italy are investigating a Facebook group called 'Let's Kill Berlusconi', 'Uccidiamo Berlusconi' is its name in Italian, as there are fears that it is inciting hatred against the Italian Prime Minister and may even lead to an attempt on his life.
Silvio Berlusconi is frequently a controversial figure, and something of a playboy by all accounts, whose tactless remarks regarding women have often seen him accused of male chauvinism.
In recent times over 100,000 women signed an online petition in protest at the comment he made about a female Italian politician.
As the
Independent reports Mr Berlusconi described his political opponent 58-year-old Rosy Bindi, who has grey hair and wears glasses, as "more beautiful than she was intelligent", or "prettier than she is intelligent" according to
ABC Australia.
Regardless of the exact words used by the Italian PM they were enough to see the launch of the online petition and prompt Ms Bindi to say to her detractor that she is "a woman who is not at your disposal".
Ms Bindi's colleague Giovanna Melandri was decidedly more sarcastic regarding the man who has been Italian PM on three occasions and reportedly stands at 5 ft 5 ins tall, declaring that he has proved himself to be "taller than he is well-mannered".
And now have come the websites which authorities apparently believe are truly advocating the killing of 73-year-old Mr Berlusconi.
There is one group on Facebook called 'Death to Berlusconi', which
ABC Australia says has attracted 300 members, but that group cannot match the popularity of the 'Let's Kill Berlusconi' group which the
Independent is saying has a membership closer to 20,000.
Members of Mr Berlusconi's government have rushed to condemn the Facebook groups set up to perhaps ridicule, rather than truly bring about physical harm to, the Italian leader. For example Interior minister Roberto Maroni said:
I don't think that there's a country in the world in which someone would be able to write on a website 'Let's kill the Prime Minister',. It would be a good thing if this demonisation of political adversaries stopped. I'm extremely concerned there's a risk things could get out of control
Opposition leader Dario Franceschini has added his voice to the criticism of those who have posted messages such as "I'm available to actually do the deed. But I wouldn't mind a bit of company inside" and "Silvio, you'll end up like Kennedy". Another message, posted by Alain Nardese, read "Arrest us all. We're all vile, evil communists!".
Whilst there appears to be nothing to suggest any similarities between those who have joined the groups and the individual or individuals responsible for a letter, sent to a left-wing newspaper and described by the
Independent as threatening, which called on Mr Berlusconi to resign and "face justice", the Italian authorities have contacted California-based Facebook and asked it to close down the sites and provide them with the personal details of those responsible for the "threatening" messages.
Despite 'Uccidiamo Berlusconi' appearing in the 'just for fun' section of Facebook Italian officials would seem to be treating the matter just as seriously as the Secret Service in the U.S. treated the Facebook poll which asked people if in their opinion President Obama should be killed.
The administrator of 'Uccidiamo Berlusconi', his name is allegedly Alfredo Raul M, is one person who doubts that those expressing their distaste for their country's leader would actually commit a violent act, the
Daily Mail quoting him as saying:
I created this group to give thinking space to people who don't like Berlusconi. It's true that the name of the group is very strong but there is absolutely no intention of committing murder. I am sure that the majority of the negative comments from people on the site are just exaggerations
The intervention by the police in Italy is not necessarily deterring people from joining the group. Furthermore closing down the group looks likely to merely lead to identical groups being set up, two such groups having already made an appearance.
