As I write, a drama is being played out in northern Italy where a band of criminals have hijacked a bus going from Alessandria to Acqui and forced it to enter the A26 Autostrada toward Genova. The bus left Alessandria with two policeman on board; the three hijackers sat in the back and with a gun forced the driver to turn the bus around. One of the policeman intervened but was stabbed in the wrist.

Although the “malviventi” were described in first reports as North Africans or “magrebini,” the latest report says one of them, who was wounded and captured, is—what else?—an Albanian laborer who had been living in Italy for seven years. The bus was filled mostly with students. After forcing the passengers off, the criminals torched the bus with gasoline. A policeman, who tried to stop the hijackers, was stabbed. Two of the students were also wounded, though not seriously. No motives for the crime have been revealed. The U.S. press reports are behind on the story: Google News is not reporting it, and the AP still has not disclosed the identity of the high-jackers. Here is a link to La Repubblica.

A second member of the gang has now been captured–mirabile dictu–another Albanian. All three, according to news reports, were illegal aliens.  I am sure they are good boys who were driven to violence by anti-Albanian prejudice. I am equally sure that all good Albanian-Americans will repudiate these crimes and describe them as isolated incidents from which only a bigot would draw any conclusions.
Developing . . .