Eyewitness says Modena tragedy could have been even worse

Still in shock after seeing a car drive through a crowded city center in Modena, northern Italy, on Saturday, pensioner Walter Botorsi said an even bigger tragedy had been narrowly averted.

“If the car had continued to move towards the center, it could have killed, killed,” the 76-year-old told AFP after Saturday’s incident, when a driver with a history of mental health problems injured eight people.

The small Citroën driven by the man, a 31-year-old Italian of Moroccan origin, mowed down cyclists and pedestrians around 4:30 p.m. near the cathedral.

One of the car’s wheels locked when it climbed the curb, sending it crashing into a storefront window.

If it had continued, the car would have passed under crowded arcades and would have “killed, killed or caused even more serious injuries,” Botorsi said, looking up at the sky.

“I’m still in shock,” said the man, who saw the car pass “at very high speed”.

No barrier prevented cars from entering the semi-pedestrian street, where buses also pass.

The driver then tried to flee, but was chased and caught by four passers-by at whom he brandished a knife.

He injured one of them before being arrested.

– Rage and sadness –

“Terror and blood on the Via Emilia”, headlined the Gazzetta di Modena on Sunday.

This town in the Po Valley, between Bologna and the factories of the luxury car manufacturer Ferrari, woke up torn between “rage” and “sadness”, says Mattia Meschieri, 38 years old.

“We really feel like we’ve lost the story of our lives. We lived in a city that we love… and seeing it like this really hurts.”

Meschieri gathered on Sunday morning with around 100 people from Modena at the scene of the incident to demand greater security in the city.

“The situation in the city has deteriorated enormously. Already on New Year’s Eve, a priest was stabbed by a stranger. Yesterday’s incident is the most serious,” he added.

“We want to make it clear that the population is extremely worried and that we are waiting for a reaction from the political world, because we cannot tolerate a situation of this kind,” Meschieri said.

The reactions of Italian politicians from the center and left highlighted the courage of the bystanders who intervened to stop the driver, including two Egyptians.

Some far-right politicians have questioned the “integration of second-generation citizens”.

“All this risks fueling racism,” said Reda Lafif, 31, an Italian of Moroccan origin and owner of a perfume shop a few meters from the scene.

“This is not a Moroccan problem,” he said.

“If he was really crazy, if he had been treated in a psychiatric ward and they let him go out in his own car, that’s a problem with the Italian system.”

tsz/dt/cw