Anarchist Group Claims Responsibility For Rail Sabotage During Winter Olympics

ROME, Feb 9 (Reuters) – An anarchist group on Monday claimed responsibility for sabotaging railway infrastructure in northern Italy on Saturday and disrupting train traffic on the first full day of the Winter Olympic Games.

Police said there were three separate incidents at different locations in the early hours of Saturday, causing delays of up to 2-1/2 hours on high-speed and regional services, particularly around the city of Bologna.

No one was injured and no trains were damaged.

An anarchist group said in a statement published online that Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s progressive crackdown on demonstrations had made clashes in the streets “neutral” and meant they had to find other forms of protest.

“Therefore, in order to survive in the coming period, it seems necessary to adopt secret methods, decentralize the conflict and multiply its fronts, and turn to self-defense and sabotage,” the anarchist said in the statement.

There was no statement from the police regarding the statement. Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, who heads the Ministry of Transport, promised to catch the anarchists.

“We will do everything to catch and expose these bandits wherever they hide, put them in prison and confront those who defend them,” he wrote to X. “Long live the Olympics, the symbol of an Italy that builds, evokes emotion, never gives up,” he added.

Anarchists denounced the Olympic Games as a “glorification of nationalism” and said the event provided a “testing ground” for controlling crowds and monitoring movement.

Shortly after the attack on rail infrastructure on Saturday, a small group of about 100 hooded protesters threw flares and fireworks at police after separating from the main body of an anti-Olympic demonstration in Milan, the Games’ co-host.

Meloni on Sunday condemned street protesters and saboteurs as “enemies of Italy.”