Berlusconi smacked in the coupon

[faceless]

Silvio Berlusconi punched in face after Milan rally
The Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi was left bloodied and shaken after he was punched in the face as he left a political rally in Milan.
By Nick Pisa in Rome
13 Dec 2009

The 73-year-old premier collapsed after he was apparently struck in the face by a man who was clutching a small statue of the Duomo, the city's world-famous cathedral. A shaken Mr Berlusconi was quickly dragged to his waiting car by his security guards and driven to hospital.

Doctors said he had not suffered concussion and had insisted "I'm fine, I'm fine, don't worry about me" as he was stretchered in from his car. But they said he had bled profusely from his mouth and two of his teeth were loose, one of them fractured. He was given a CAT scan and was to be kept in for observation for at least 24 hours. Police arrested Massimo Tartaglia, 42, a local man who has received treatment for mental health issues for the last ten years.

The incident happened at the end of a fiery speech Mr Berlusconi had given to supporters of his People of Freedom party in the square in front of the Duomo. It is the second time that Mr Berlusconi - who likes to work the crowds and will often go on walkabouts - has been attacked in public. In 2004 he was hit over the head with a camera tripod while strolling in Rome.

The attack happened as the premier was signing autographs in a scrum of people. It immediate raised questions about the wisdom of allowing the leader of one of the world's leading economies to be so accessible to the public when the weapon could have been a gun or knife. The atmosphere was already febrile before Mr Berlusconi left the meeting. At the beginning of the rally Berlusconi was heckled and whistled by at least 10 members of the audience who chanted "shame" at him.

The Italian defence minister, Ignazio La Russa, who witnessed the attack, said: "The prime minister was punched in the face by a man who was holding something in his hand. I was about a metre away and I saw blood coming from the premier's nose and mouth. and he was then pushed into the car by his bodyguards and driven away. He was actually trying to step on the edge of the door so that he could stand and wave to the crowds but his bodyguards would not let him do it they pushed him inside. The attacker was held immediately by the police and it's a good job he was because he risked being lynched by the crowd there would have been just pieces of him left."

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In the absence of Blair or Bush, it couldn't have happened to a more deserving bastard.

[Stones]

Aww, that actually makes me want to cry. I don't know anything about him and stuff, he may well be a bit of a bastard, but a 73 year old man got punched in the face and that is horrible.

[faceless]

Well if he's too old to take the slings and arrows of being a corrupt philandering megalomaniacal warmonger then he shouldn't be in the job.

[Stones]

But he's all old. And he was bleeding!

[modern]

What a shame....

[pirtybirdy]

He didn't just get punched in the face, the guy who did it had a statue in his hand, so he got clocked with a statue. I hope they throw the fucker who did it in jail. I don't like him mainly for his whoremongering, rather than his warmongering. lol!

[funkyfunkpants]

[SquareEyes]

I restrained myself from commenting on this before, as I don't like this guy a lot, and think he's manipulative, devious and a letch. I refuse to say how I feel about this minor injury he has suffered, but if it was Hitler at that age, would you be complaining? Not that I want to make an inflammatory comment or anything... :p

[faceless]

that picture is brilliant funky - haha Let's hear it for Chuck!

[Skylace]

[faceless]

[pirtybirdy]

Conspiracies are all the rage these days. Same people who believe in those are the same people that purchase the National Enquirer.

[Stones]

[faceless]

[faceless]

note the guy's gun...