Terror attack probes Italy to build concrete barriers at famous landmarks

Following the terror attack in Barcelona last Thursday, Italy has built concrete barriers circumfusing its famous landmarks.

Major tourist hotspots such as in Milan, Rome, Bologna and Turin are all stepping up security in pedestrianised areas. Although the country has not suffered from any attacks on its territory, but there have been repeated warnings by Isis.

Concrete barriers where built across the Milan’s main piazza which houses its famous cathedral. Streets leading up to the adjacent Galleria Vittorio Emanuele – the spectacular 19th-century shopping arcade – also had the structures installed.

Bologna and Turin put protective barriers in place to separate vehicles and pedestrians this weekend. In Bologna, security has been tightened around the Basilica of San Petronio. Sdaly, there has been number of plots surrounding this church as it houses a 15th-century fresco by the artist Giovanni da Modena which depicts the prophet Mohammed being tortured by devils.

Palermo, Sicily’s capital is one of the busiest centres of the place which has also been guarded by new protective barricades and the city council of Florence said it was looking into installing similar structures. In Genoa and Naples, police patrols were stepped up.

The media reported that entrance to Via del Corso, Rome’s main shopping street and Via dei Fori Imperiali, the avenue that runs through central Rome from the Piazza Venezia to the Colosseum, will also be guarded by the concrete blocks in order to protect from any probable attack.

Concrete blocks are already in place on the Via della Conciliazione, the main road leading to St Peter’s square.

In response to the Barcelona attack, Italian interior minister Marco Minniti said last week: “I am amazed that a van could have driven undisturbed down La Ramblas in Barcelona.

In the last years, Italy has come up with robust anti-terror strategy, which includes patrolling of more than 6000 troops across the city streets. There has also been increased surveillance of the country’s Muslim population and expulsions of non-nationals deemed a security risk. Since the start of 2015, 202 people have been deported in line with the policy.