A dramatic video from Italy is circulating social media, showing a police officer held hostage by a knife-wielding “migrant” at Milan’s Cathedral. After bargaining with the kidnapper, police swoop in to disarm the knifeman to make the arrest.
Footage has surfaced from nail-biting scenes within Il Duomo di Milano as a man, reported as a “North African Migrant,” holds a knife to a police officer’s throat. Fellow officers surround the cornered migrant with the hostage attempting to negotiate with the suspect, until one cavalier officer leaped in to remove the weapon from the suspect’s grasp to defuse the potentially incandescent situation.
The tweet containing the video reads: “Milan Cathedral, #risorsaINPS North African wanted to slaughter Agent in front of the altar. The beast made the Agent kneel under threat of a knife aimed at the throat. Saved by #PoliziaDiStato. Unworthy government: enough illegal immigrants!”
Duomo di Milano, #risorsaINPS nordafricano voleva sgozzare Agente davanti all'altare. La bestia ha fatto inginocchiare l'Agente sotto la minaccia di un coltello puntato alla gola. Salvato dalla #PoliziaDiStato. Governo indegno: basta clandestini! @BasedPoland #RadioSavana pic.twitter.com/2XvDpmaY5L
— RadioSavana (@RadioSavana) August 12, 2020
According to local media, the man, believed to be of Maghrebi descent, was acting suspiciously on the church steps when he was approached by security guards. The suspect then ran into the cathedral and overpowered one officer before holding a knife to his throat and demanding him to kneel.
Within moments, police and military personnel arrived at the scene to cordon off the area in an effort to resolve the dramatic situation. After the suspect was encircled by half a dozen agents, an arrest was made within a few minutes.
The hostage reportedly suffered minor injuries as a result of the ordeal.
Il Giornale continued to report that there are an estimated 50,000 illegal immigrants roaming the streets of Milan. Identifying the suspect may prove to be a difficult endeavor given a lack of documentation.
Populist politician Paolo Grimoldi had some very choice words about the current state of the Northern Italian city. “I agree with the choice of Milan,” he said. “A city symbol of decay, a city in disarray from the point of view of public order, with stabbings and rapes every day (even today a guard kidnapped with a knife in the Duomo …), with an open-air shop practically in every car park and with about 50 thousand illegal immigrants who roam without any control in the city ”
In recent years, Italy has been hit with waves of illegal immigration through its Mediterranean route as hundreds of thousands of migrants vie to reach European countries with generous welfare states and high quality of life.
