Fascists bomb room full of people

Press, 18 June 1979, Page 6

Fascists bomb room full of people

NZPA-Reuter Rome Neo-Fascists have bombed a local office of the Italian Communist Party and injured 23 people, including two children. The masked attackers switched off the lights and then hurled two bombs into the main room of the office where 50 party members and sympathisers were discussing the recent General Election. The police said the bombs, possibly a hand-grenade and a fire-bomb, started a fire and many people were injured trying to escape the flames. One man was also hit by a bullet fired by the attackers as they fled, but hospital officials said none of the injured was in a serious condition.

In a telephone call to a Rome newspaper within an hour of the attack, the neoFascist N.A.R. (Armed Revolutionary Nuclei) group claimed responsibility for the bombing and said it. was to avenge the death of an 18-year-o!d student, Francesco Cecchin.

Cecchin died in hospital at the week-end from injuries he received in a fight last month with Left-wing youths.

The Christian Democratic secretary (Mr Benigno Zaccagnini) sent a telegram to the Communist Party chief, Enrico Berlinguer, deploring the attack.

Direct armed clashes between Right and Left-wing groups had died down this year after a series of street battles last year had claimed a number of lives.