(ANSA) - Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu announced today that the first of a series of major anti-terror drill in Italy's largest cities will take place in Milan between September 20 and 25.
In an interview with the weekly L'Espresso, Pisanu said drills will be also be held in Rome, Turin and Naples shortly after. He explained that the four-phase operation envisages enactments which will initially involve police, and that residents may be involved in a later stage. The operation, which will be coordinated by Pisanu in person, will test how well public order is maintained and the response of emergency services.
While Italy's emergency services have been tested in terrorism drills before, these have only involved individual units and nothing has been carried out on this scale before. The drills will be staged at rail stations, metro stops, airports and tourist attractions, and will involve police, the civil protection, firefighters and the medical services.
Pisanu said the aim was "to make sure we know what do do in the unfortunate case that a terrorist attack does take place. Everyone must know what his duties are and familiarize himself with the line of command. There are other aspects we still have to improve on, for instance, dealing with the media."
The minister declined to provide details on the time and specific location of the drills, saying "they will vary depending on the city and the site of the presumed targets." "Over the last few month, at night, we have very quietly carried out some drills in stations and in metros. The September drills will be more thorough."
The minister said that Italian experts had revised the interior ministry's national anti-terror plan after closely reviewing the attacks in London in July and in Madrid in March 2004 with their British and Spanish counterparts.
