FN provincial chief attacked (4)

(ANSA) - Rome, February 21 - The Palermo provincial secretary of the far-right Forza Nuova (FN) group was tied up and bloodily beaten by persons wearing ski masks or with their heads wrapped in scarves in Palermo's central Via Dante Tuesday night. Tattoo salon owner Massimo Ursino was surrounded by a half dozen people, tied hand and foot with duct tape and brutally beaten, sources said. Ursino suffered bruising to the face and the whole of his body, a broken nose, and a suspected shoulder lesion, medical sources said. He was taken to the ER where doctors said his injuries would heal in 20 days.
    FN leader Roberto Fiore said "after a campaign of hatred sown by the (newspaper) Espresso group and followed by all the left including the Free and Equal (LeU) party, Communist hatred is unleashed against Forza Nuova".
    "A Forza Nuova official was struck at his workplace, tied up and brutally beaten, in a cowardly way, in 10 against one".
    The attack, which was condemned by all political parties, was claimed by an unnamed lefist group which said it "repudiated Fascism" and that Ursino had been given an "exemplary" beating a few days ahead of a rally in Palermo by Fiore.
    It said Italy was threatened by the "rise" of racist and neo-Fascist groups.
    photo: Fiore