Images of the bloodied face of Silvio Berlusconi, attacked during a rally in Milan, grace front pages all over Europe today. Milan daily Il Giornale has used the occasion to launch an all-out attack against the opposition, guilty of having inspired this dreadful deed against its owner. "The anti-Cavaliere hate front has borne its first fruit", froths Alessandro Sallusti, adding darkly that “Violence against Berlusconi is not coincidential. There’s been a strategy plotted by newspapers, political bureaus and irresponsible TV programmes". La Repubblica, however, traditionally one of the prime-minister’s fiercest critics, along with most of the opposition, has expressed sympathy. "Friends and foes…must express solidarity with the premier. Berlusconi's right to his ideas and policies coincides with our right to criticize him. This freedom is called democracy: let's defend it".
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