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Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s office issued guidance on November 12 stating that public buildings should not be evacuated in the absence of concrete elements beyond the mere receipt of a mass email suggesting danger exists. The directive followed a fresh wave of alerts that reached 1,803 schools across Italy from Milan in the north to Sicily in the south according to Reuters. Some institutions still conducted precautionary checks but many remained open or quickly resumed classes after the new instructions reached local authorities. The move came a day after roughly 6,300 schools were affected on November 11 causing widespread evacuations and forcing parents to collect children amid the panic.
Police and bomb disposal teams searched numerous sites on both days but found no explosive devices a Reuters assessment found. The emails were signed by an individual identifying as Mikhail Andropov leader of the Vilayat di Misoginistan and the November 12 messages appear to have originated from a hacked account of a science teacher in the Philippines according to multiple reports. A similar threat on November 11 was traced to an account possibly linked to a university in Taiwan. Italian officials including Defence Minister Guido Crosetto described the campaign as intended to spread fear and create anxiety.
This marked the third wave of such alerts targeting Italian schools in little more than three weeks a CBS News compilation of Italian media reports showed. Previous incidents occurred on October 19 and November 2 with the latest proving the most extensive. Meloni summoned opposition leaders to Palazzo Chigi for discussions on a new protocol to limit the impact of future incidents and she recorded a video message stating that nothing was found in any of the schools after thorough checks by security forces.
Comparable hoax emails reached hundreds of schools in Scotland Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland on November 11 but authorities there classified them as hoaxes without ordering evacuations according to local police statements. The incidents form part of a broader series of threats and cyberattacks that have recently hit supermarkets blood banks air traffic systems and broadcasters across Europe a Reuters overview noted. European officials have voiced suspicions of hybrid warfare aimed at nations supporting Ukraine though both Russia and Iran have denied orchestrating such actions.
Opposition parties have faulted Meloni’s government for insufficient cybersecurity investment while focusing resources on conventional military equipment an Al Jazeera dispatch reported. Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara told a television channel that the events reflected a clear strategy behind threats affecting multiple sectors and countries. Investigators are collaborating with European counterparts to identify the senders with national security sources telling Reuters that school email addresses are publicly available making such mass alerts relatively simple to execute.
In regions including Puglia and Molise local education offices instructed schools to suspend lessons only long enough for Carabinieri or police verification before allowing pupils to return to classrooms a la Repubblica live update detailed. The prime minister thanked public security forces for completing thousands of building checks within hours. Authorities continue to monitor the situation as parents and teachers seek clearer assurances that daily education routines will not face further interruptions from similar hoaxes.
