Italy PM Meloni heads to Modena after car-ramming, cancels Cyprus meeting


The car that drove into pedestrians is removed from the scene after several people were injured in the center of the northern Italian city of Modena, Italy, May 16, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer

MILAN, May 17 (Reuters) - Italy's ⁠Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will travel to Modena ⁠on Sunday, a day after several people were ‌injured in a car-ramming incident there, cancelling a meeting in Nicosia with Cyprus' president in order to make the trip, government sources said.

Italy's ​President Sergio Mattarella will also travel ⁠to the Italian northern ⁠city, the sources added.

A 30-year-old man, born in Italy and ⁠of ‌North African origin, drove a car into a crowd in the city centre on Saturday, injuring ⁠eight people, four of them seriously.

The man attempted ​to flee ‌and stabbed one of three passersby who tried to ⁠stop him. ​He was later arrested by police.

Modena's prosecutors said in a statement on Sunday that the suspect is under investigation for ⁠massacre and personal injury, adding that ​efforts are under way to establish the motive behind his actions.

They said the man struck pedestrians in the crowded city ⁠centre, which has more than 180,000 residents, "in an indiscriminate, random and deliberate manner".

"The man had received treatment for mental health issues in 2022 due to schizoid personality disorder, ​after which he went off the ⁠radar," Modena's mayor, Massimo Mezzetti, told broadcaster RaiNews24 late on ​Saturday.

Among those seriously injured, two had ‌suffered the loss of their legs, ​with one in a life-threatening condition, the prosecutors added.

(Reporting by Sara Rossi, editing by Kirsten Donovan)

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