Italy is showing signs of cracking as unrest and the beginning of violence backlashes have become evident

http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2012/05/italy-deploys-20000-law-enforcement.html

Saturday, May 19, 2012 3:25 AM

Italy Deploys 20,000 Law Enforcement Officers to Protect Individuals and Sensitive Sites; Anecdotes From Italy via Canada: Taxed Out of House and Home

Italy Deploys 20,000 Law Enforcement Officers to Protect Individuals and Sensitive Sites

The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports Italy deploys 20,000 to protect sensitive targets

 Italy increased security Thursday at 14,000 sites, and assigned bodyguards to protect 550 individuals after a nuclear energy company official was shot and letter bombs directed to the tax collection agency.

Under the enhanced measures, Interior Minister Anna Maria Cancellieri deployed 20,000 law enforcement officers to protect individuals and sensitive sites. In addition, 4,200 military personnel already assigned throughout Italy will be redeployed according to new priorities.

Authorities will also increase intelligence to "neutralize" the risk of subversive actions "that can be nourished in moments of tension," the statement added.

Taxed Out of House and Home

In response to Tax Collection Violence in Italy: Mail Bombs in Rome, Police Clashes in Naples, Molotov Cocktails in Livorno I received an email from Frank who lives in Canada but owns property in Italy writes ...

 Hello Mish

Trust me, it really is that bad.

I have a condo on the Adriatic in Italy, and lots of family still there. The local municipal property tax, called Imposta Comunale Immobili (ICI), is paid by anyone who owns property or land, whether they are a resident or not.

Recently, property taxes have gone up fast. Property is now being reassessed at the "real" value instead of the "official" (wink) value.

TV shows highlight the plight of elderly who have had to move out of their own homes into nursing homes because they could not pay property taxes. 

My uncle has 6 apartments which he's owned for many years. He and his children live in 4 and he collects rent on the other 2 to live on. He is getting hammered.

He lived and worked in Canada most of his life but returned to Italy because his daughter married an Italian.

Now he desperately wants to return to Canada, but it's impossible to sell now.

Frank G.

and.....

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/19/italian-school-hit-bomb-attack

Italian school hit by bomb attack

Two girls killed and five pupils injured in attack on Francesca Morvillo Falcone vocational school in Brindisi

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• David Batty and agencies
• guardian.co.uk, Saturday 19 May 2012 05.36 EDT

The Francesca Morvillo Falcone school in Brindisi, Italy, where the bomb went off as pupils were arriving for Saturday morning classes. Photograph: Dario Caricato/EPA

A bomb has exploded in front of a school in the southern Italian town of Brindisi, killing two girls and injuring five other pupils.

The device went off as students were arriving at the Francesca Morvillo Falcone vocational school at around 8am (6am GMT).

The school is named after the anti-mafia prosecutor Giovanni Falcone and his wife, who were killed by a mafia bomb in Sicily 20 years ago this weekend.

But authorities said it was unclear if there was an organised crime link to the school blast. As yet, no one has claimed responsibility for the explosion.

Three days ago, government officials announced security was being stepped up throughout the country after a shooting that wounded a nuclear energy official, several threats against tax officials and small explosive devices sent to the offices of a tax collection agency.

In Brindisi, the local civil protection agency official Fabiano Amati said two female students have died of their wounds despite attempts to save them, and five other injured students had been admitted to hospital. Sky TG24 TV said one of the victims was a 16-year-old girl.

Officials initially said the device had been left in a bin outside the Morvillo Falcone school. But the Italian news agency Ansa, reporting from Brindisi, later said the device had been placed on a low wall that rings the school.

Public high schools in Italy hold classes on Saturday mornings.

The bombing also follows a number of attacks against Italian officials and government buildings by a group of anarchists, which has prompted authorities to assign bodyguards for 550 individuals and deploy 16,000 law enforcement officers nationwide.

Austerity measures, spending cuts and new and higher taxes, all part of premier Mario Monti's plan to save Italy from succumbing to the debt crisis roiling Greece, have angered many citizens, and social tensions have increased.