1,800 Italian Schools Evacuated on Second Day of Bomb Hoaxes
The government advised against emptying buildings without physical evidence, but thousands of parents reported confusion as no devices were found.
By Tomas Rahman ·
Thousands of students in Italy were pulled out of classrooms on Thursday, the second day in a row that bomb threats halted lessons across the country. Approximately 1,800 schools, ranging from Milan in the north to Sicily in the south, received alert messages similar to those sent on Wednesday. Despite the wide geographic spread, no explosive devices have been discovered in any of the affected structures.
The disruption raises questions about how families and staff should respond to digital threats that lack physical confirmation. The Italian government issued specific guidance stating that schools should not evacuate buildings solely based on receiving a mass email. Officials emphasized that concrete evidence beyond the digital message is required to trigger a full exit, a protocol intended to maintain operational stability while ensuring safety.
Both the Wednesday and Thursday alerts were signed by a sender named Mikhail Andropov, described as the leader of a group called Vilayat di Misoginistan. While officials suspect the original threat originated in Taiwan, the Thursday message is linked to a hacked account belonging to a teacher in the Philippines. This connection suggests the hoax is spreading through compromised digital credentials, though the consistent signature between the two days leaves the ultimate origin unclear.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni described the events as a deliberate strategy to create alarm and test the nation's response to security threats. Her framing positions the incidents as a coordinated attempt to disrupt public life rather than a singular criminal act. This interpretation aligns with the government's push for standardized communication channels between schools and state bodies.
Public reaction has turned to frustration and debate. Parents are demanding clearer instructions and decisive action from authorities. In Rome, demonstrations were held by residents of a secondary school district after the headmaster chose not to evacuate her building. She cited typos in the threatening message as evidence of its inauthenticity, a decision that prompted local protesters to call for new national guidelines to standardize future responses.
These events occur alongside similar incidents in Europe, including threats sent to schools in Scotland and Northern Ireland on Wednesday. A bomb alert at the Calais rail station in northern France also delayed train services on Thursday. Although an extremist group initially claimed responsibility for some European threats, it later denied a link to the specific messages sent to Italian schools. The true source of the current campaign remains unconfirmed.
