He took the Frecciarossa Reggio Calabria-Milan and, when he arrived in the Lodi area , in one of the sections where the high speed runs parallel to the Autostrada del Sole, he activated the emergency brake and threw himself off the train , then collected embanked stones as big as grapefruit, crossed the carriageway towards Milan and stopped on the central gard rail, throwing stones on the windshields of passing cars . Jumping as he threw them to hit as hard as possible, frightened eyewitnesses reported.

Police patrols , ambulances and firefighters arrived immediately on the scene.

The man - a 22-year-old Egyptian with a small precedent and an expired residence permit - was surrounded by policemen , while still screaming with a knife around his neck, and was tasked with applause from those present, and arrested. .

In the meantime, the motorway has been closed between Lodi and Casalpusterlengo, and long columns have been created in both directions.

Dozens of cars had to pull over, several with blown-up windshields , including an ambulance. And rail traffic has also been slowed down with seven trains delayed by up to 50 minutes, before traffic returned to normal around 10:30.

An overwork for the rescuers , who had to evaluate 31 people including seven children up to seven years old . Fortunately , no one was seriously injured , although the toll could have been much more serious on a busy day for departures to the holidays.

"We are all shaken but fortunately, apart from a few cuts on the face and the glass dust in the eyes, we are all fine, it could have been much worse for us and for everyone else" said the League's deputy Claudia Gobbato, who with her husband Cesare Parisciani, deputy mayor of Agnadello, in the Cremona area, was going to the beach with his two children aged 6 months and 4 and a half years. "We saw him take aim and, not happy, also bring his arm back and jump before throwing in order to cause more damage," he said, explaining his son's shock . "He was very frightened, also because he saw blood on my face", she specified, announcing that she was ready to file a complaint .

The arrested man was transported to the hospital in Codogno (Lodi) where he is now guarded in the psychiatry ward. The crimes he is currently accused of are an attack on transport safety, disruption of public service and resistance to a public official .

Today the hearing to validate the arrest and the direct judgment for the crime of resistance. But the man also risks being charged with attempted murder .

"The analysis of the acts of the judicial police - explained the prosecutor of Lodi, Domenico Chiaro - has determined the need for further investigative investigations to assess the configurability of the crimes of attempted murder and / or private violence in place of that of an attack on security of transport together with that of public service interruption ".

(Unioneonline / vl)

© Riproduzione riservata