[CPProt.net] Italy plans measures to protect its art treasures

[MSN CPPnet (Ton Cremers)]

Italy plans measures to protect its art treasures
18 Jul 2005 12:51:29 GMT

Source: Reuters
 
ROME, July 18 (Reuters) - Italy is drawing up anti-terrorism measures to
protect its cultural and archaeological sites in the wake of bomb attacks on
London, Culture Minister Rocco Buttiglione said on Monday.

"We don't want to send the wrong message, our museums are safe...but in
these times of international terrorism we must make our museums even safer,"
Buttiglione said at a news conference to unveil a new archaeological find.

"We are studying measures to, above all, defend visitors," he said. "We have
made a list of all of Italy's cultural heritage sites and are defining which
are at highest risk."

Buttiglione said the measures were being worked out with the Interior
Ministry and would be implemented quickly.

He said an increase in security guards, surveillance cameras and the use of
metal detectors as well as a ban on purses and backpacks would be among the
measures, some of which are already being put in place.

Buttiglione has refused to say which sites are at highest risk but security
experts point to museums such as the Uffizi in Florence and tourist hotspots
such as the Colosseum in Rome and the Leaning Tower of Pisa as possible
targets.

Security at the Leaning Tower of Pisa has come under scrutiny after a
journalist staged a stunt at the weekend proving he could give guards the
slip.

Not only did he manage to get an oversized backpack into one of Italy's most
famous monuments, he then wandered around the tower for two hours and left
the bag unattended at the top of the tower without attracting the attention
of guards.

More than 50 people were killed and 700 wounded in four blasts on the London
underground and on a bus on July 7, prompting many Western countries to
tighten security.

Italy's cultural sites have been targeted by attacks in the past. In 1993,
the Mafia planted bombs in the Uffizi and in a Rome cathedral.