I made a mistake but I don't accept exploitation - Prodi

(ANSA) - ROME, MAR 26 - Ex premier Romano Prodi on Wednesday admitted he made a mistake in pulling a journalist's hair after being asked an awkward question on the Ventotene Manifesto Saturday but did not accept the way the incident has been exploited by his critics.
    The two time former centre left premier and ex European Commission chief said: "I believe the time has come to clarify some things regarding what happened on Saturday, March 22, on the sidelines of the presentation of my latest book.
    "The gesture I made belongs to a familiar gesture of mine. I realized, seeing the footage, that I had almost mechanically transported that gesture to a different context. I made a mistake and I am sorry for this.
    "But it is clear from the images and the audio that I never intended to attack, much less intimidate the journalist.
    "This story offers me the opportunity for a reflection that is perhaps useful.
    "I think it is everyone's right, no matter what role they have played in life, to claim their own history and their own honorability and not to accept, as an inevitable destiny, widespread exploitation and even derision, also thanks to the power of the Internet.
    "As if a whole life didn't count, as if the future didn't exist." (ANSA).