Cospito firecracker protest at Italian consulate in NY

(ANSA) - ROME, MAR 15 - A masked gang of eight caused a firecracker explosion and briefly unfurled banners supporting the jailed hunger-striking anarchist leader Alfredo Cospito outside the Italian Consulate in New York on Tuesday.
    No-one was hurt and no damage was done by the explosion, Italian foreign ministry sources said Wednesday.
    Cospito has been on hunger strike since October to protest against the tough 41 bis prison regime that he is being held under and is usually reserved for mafia bosses.
    His supporters have embarked on a wave of threats, acts of vandalism and violent protests, including rioting in Turin in early March.
    The 55-year-old has asked for his prison sentence to be commuted to house arrest on health grounds amid concerns about his deteriorating medical condition.
    Cospito is serving over 30 years in total in connection with two separate crimes: a bomb attack on a Carabinieri police training academy at Fossano near Cuneo in Piedmont in 2006; and kneecapping Ansaldo Nucleare Managing Director Roberto Adinolfi in Genoa in 2012. (ANSA).