Shout 'Allahu Akbar' in Venice, You Will be Shot: Fact Check

Story:

Shout ‘Allahu akbar’ and you will be shot, warns Luigi Brugnaro, Mayor of Venice

Other Versions

Mayor of Venice says anyone who shouts ‘Allahu Akbar’ in his city will be shot by snipers

Fact Check:

Several stories shared heavily on internet space, even by some media outlets, suggest that the Mayor of Venice has warned anyone who shouts ‘Allahu Akbar’ in his city will be shot by snipers. The Mayor Luigi Brugnaro has indeed given a related order, but the claim as such is not entirely fact.

Shout ‘Allahu Akbar’ in Venice, You Will be Shot?

In late August 2017 the right-winger Mayor of Venice City, Luigi Brugnaro actually ordered if you shout “Allahu Akbar” in the city’s famous tourist hotspot St Mark’s Square, you will be shot “after three steps”. St Mark’s Square, also called Piazza San Marco, or just as la Piazza (“the Square”) is the principal public square of Venice (Italy), and is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Europe.

Security Measure

The shouting of ‘Allahu Akbar,’ which means ‘God is greatest,’ has been a typical sentence of the bombers in some terrorist attacks in recent years. Earlier in March 2017, police arrested few terrorist suspects in Venice for allegedly planning to kill hundreds of tourists by blowing up the world famous Rialto Bridge. The extraordinary order came up to armed police at St Mark’s Square also in the wake of Barcelona atrocity. More than dozen people died in run down of an alleged terrorist van attack down the Las Ramblas, a tourist hotspot. Moreover, there have been repeated warnings by ISIS that Italy is on its hit list. Amidst these concerns, concrete security barriers came into place in some of Italy’s most famous sites. Cops in Venice got orders to take no risks and fire on suspected terrorists.

The Times website thetimes.co.uk reported about the Venice Mayor Luigi Brugnaro saying as below:

“In contrast with Barcelona, where they had not set up protection, we keep our guard up. If anyone runs into St Mark’s Square shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’, we will take him down. A year ago I said after four steps, now after three. I will say it in Venetian: ‘Ghe Sparemo’ (We will shoot him).” “They wanted to go to Allah. But we’ll send them straight to Allah before they can do any damage,” the Mayor added.

The order from the self-proclaimed politically incorrect mayor gathered controversy from some politicians and people. Luigi Brugnaro has been in controversy earlier also. He in fact banned many books about discrimination and or homosexuality in Venice’s schools.