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Man arrested for pushing woman onto Rome metro tracks

Police in Rome have arrested a man on suspicion of pushing a woman in front of an oncoming train at a metro station on Friday afternoon.

Published: 29 January 2018 15:52 CET
Man arrested for pushing woman onto Rome metro tracks
The Rome metro, where a woman was seriously injured after being pushed in front of a train. Photo: Alberto Pizzoli/AFP

The man, named in the Italian press as 47-year-old Igor Trotta, was arrested at his home in south-western Rome hours after the incident at EUR Fermi station.

According to the Corriere della Sera, he told police: “I heard voices, I heard them telling me to do it. God told me to.”

The suspect is reported to have a history of mental health problems, but no criminal record. He remains in custody pending a hearing before a judge.

The victim, identified as Micaela Castro Pizarro, a Peruvian woman living in Rome, was badly injured but is expected to survive. She remains in hospital, having lost her left forearm and suffered several fractures.

Police do not believe she knew her attacker, according to reports. She is thought to have been pushed at random in “an act of madness”, investigators told Roma Today.

Pizarro has lived in Italy for around 20 years, working as a carer and cleaner. She was pushed onto the tracks of the line B at EUR Fermi shortly before 1pm on Friday, where she became stuck between the platform and an oncoming train.

Trotta, a native of Rome, lived with his mother in the neighbourhood of Spinaceto. He had been receiving treatment for mental health problems since the age of 19, his mother told the Corriere della Sera.

He is expected to be charged with attempted murder. 

PROTESTS

Thousands protest in Rome against fascist groups after green pass riots

An estimated 200,000 people descended on Rome on Saturday to call for a ban on fascist-inspired groups, after protests over Italy's health pass system last weekend degenerated into riots.

Published: 16 October 2021 19:20 CEST
A general view shows people attending an anti-fascist rally called by Italian Labour unions CGIL, CISL and UIL at Piazza San Giovanni in Rome
People attend an anti-fascist rally called by Italian Labour unions CGIL, CISL and UIL at Piazza San Giovanni in Rome on October 16th, 2021. (Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP)

Carrying placards reading “Fascism: Never Again”, the protesters in Piazza San Giovanni — a square historically associated with the left — called for a ban on openly neofascist group Forza Nuova (FN).

FN leaders were among those arrested after the Rome headquarters of the CGIL trade union — Italy’s oldest — was stormed on October 9th during clashes outside parliament and in the historic centre.

Analysis: What’s behind Italy’s anti-vax protests and neo-fascist violence?

A man holds a placard reading "yes to the vaccine" during an anti-fascist rally at Piazza San Giovanni in Rome

A man holds a placard reading “yes to the vaccine” during an anti-fascist rally at Piazza San Giovanni in Rome on October 16th, 2021. Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP

“This is not just a retort to fascist ‘squadrismo’,” CGIL secretary general Maurizio Landini said, using a word used to refer to the fascist militias that began operating after World War I.

IN PICTURES: Demonstrators and far right clash with police in Rome after green pass protest

“This piazza also represents all those in Italy who want to change the country, who want to close the door on political violence,” he told the gathered crowds.

Last weekend’s riots followed a peaceful protest against the extension to all workplaces of Italy’s “Green Pass”, which shows proof of vaccination, a negative Covid-19 test or recent recovery from the virus.

The violence has focused attention on the country’s fascist legacy.

Saturday’s demonstration was attended by some 200,000 people, said organisers, with 800 coaches and 10 trains laid on to bring people to the capital for the event.

Workers from the Italian Labour Union (UIL) react during an anti-fascist rally in Rome

Workers from the Italian Labour Union (UIL) react during an anti-fascist rally in Rome on October 16th, 2021. Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP

It coincided with the 78th anniversary of the Nazi raid on the Jewish Ghetto in Rome.

Over 1,000 Jews, including 200 children, were rounded up at dawn on October 16th, 1943, and deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp.

General Secretary of the Italian General Confederation of Labour (CGIL), Maurizio Landini (C) delivers a speech as Italian priest Don Luigi Ciotti (R) looks on

General Secretary of the Italian General Confederation of Labour (CGIL), Maurizio Landini (C) delivers a speech as Italian priest Don Luigi Ciotti (R) looks on during the anti-fascist rally in Rome. Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP

“Neofascist groups have to be shut down, right now. But that has to be just the start: we need an antifascist education in schools,” university student Margherita Sardi told AFP.

READ ALSO: Covid green pass: How are people in Italy reacting to the new law for workplaces?

The centre-left Democratic Party, which has led the calls for FN to be banned, said its petition calling on parliament to do so had gathered 100,000 signatures.

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