The Italian government is changing the rules following false bomb alerts at schools

The Italian government will introduce new rules for handling security alerts after approximately 6,300 schools received email threats concerning the placement of bombs. The executive led by Giorgia Meloni announced on Thursday that evacuations will no longer be ordered automatically, but only when there is concrete evidence of a real danger.

Many schools were evacuated immediately after receiving the messages, causing widespread disruption. Parents rushed to pick up their children, and panic spread on social media. More than 1,800 alerts were received on Thursday as well, and some educational institutions were closed again.

Giorgia Meloni invited opposition leaders to talks to establish a common strategy. The prime minister’s office stated that simply receiving mass-sent messages should not lead to the evacuation of buildings in the absence of other indications of a concrete risk.

The opposition called on the government to present proposals for combating these incidents and criticized the prioritization of spending on armaments at the expense of cybersecurity. Similar alerts were reported in Scotland, Ireland, and Northern Ireland, but authorities there considered them hoaxes and kept classes running.

Several European officials suspect a possible disruption campaign attributed to Russia, an accusation rejected by Moscow. Italian authorities said that, for the time being, they have no evidence of Russian involvement.