Mattarella and Meloni visit injured in Modena; El Koudri remains silent before prosecutors
The President of the Republic and the Prime Minister met wounded individuals and medical staff at hospitals in Baggiovara and Bologna. The 31-year-old Salim El Koudri refused to answer questions from magistrates.
Modena, the day after: state institutions at the bedside of the wounded
The President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella and the Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni visited hospitals in Baggiovara and the Maggiore in Bologna on Sunday morning to see those injured in Saturday's vehicular attack in the centre of Modena, according to ANSA Cronaca. Together with mayor Massimo Mezzetti and the president of the Emilia-Romagna Region Michele de Pascale, the two highest state representatives met patients, families and healthcare staff.
Mattarella addressed the doctors directly: "Thank you for what you do in this dramatic circumstance but also regularly. We are aware of what you do every day. You are followed in this case particularly with attention and gratitude by all our fellow citizens."
On leaving Modena hospital, Mattarella and Meloni stopped to speak with some of the bystanders who had restrained the attacker and handed him over to police. Among them was Luca Signorelli, greeted with applause from the small crowd present. "I showed that Italy is not dead, it still exists. It looked like a scene from Beirut, from Gaza. I saw people turning away because they were afraid. Sometimes you have to respond," he said.
El Koudri in silence, validation hearing on Monday
Salim El Koudri, 31 years old, detained on charges of mass violence and aggravated assault for deliberately hitting a group of pedestrians on Saturday afternoon in the city centre with a Citroën C3, chose not to answer questions from Modena magistrates during Sunday evening's interrogation. He reportedly said only a generic reference to a state of confusion — "I am confused" — before retreating into silence. He is being held at Modena prison; the validation hearing before the investigating judge is scheduled for Monday at 14:00, when he may decide whether to provide explanations. He is being assisted by court-appointed lawyer Francesco Cottafava.
At present, no terrorism-related charges have been brought against him. The extremist angle has not been definitively ruled out, but investigations have so far found no signs of radicalisation. Investigators' attention is focused on the man's path through psychiatric care between 2022 and 2024, which appears to have been interrupted. Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi characterised the matter as attributable to "a situation of psychiatric distress". The mobile squad will continue investigations to establish El Koudri's personality and contacts.
Four still in serious condition, three women at risk of death
The attack caused no fatalities, but four people remain hospitalised in serious condition, including three women at risk of death, distributed between Baggiovara hospital and the Maggiore in Bologna.
The "accidental heroes": two Egyptians also among those who stopped the attacker
Mayor Mezzetti wished to highlight a significant detail in the context of political controversy linked to El Koudri's Moroccan nationality, but Italian citizenship: among those who intervened to restrain and disarm him were two Egyptian citizens, Osama Shalaby and Osama Mohamed Shalaby, without Italian citizenship. "We were not afraid, we are Egyptian, we are afraid only of God," the two said. They were not present at the hospital during the morning visit, but both participated in the evening vigil in Piazza Grande.
Late on Sunday afternoon the mayor convened citizens in the square: thousands of Modena residents responded, in what was described as a great collective embrace for a city wounded by an episode which, terrorism or not, has no precedent in Italy.
Source: ANSA Cronaca