MILAN, Italy — An attacker hurled a statuette Sunday at Premier Silvio Berlusconi, striking him in the face at the end of a rally and leaving the media mogul with a broken nose and a bloodied mouth.
Police said Massimo Tartaglia, the 42-year-old man accused of attacking Berlusconi as he signed autographs, was taken into custody. The Italian leader, 73, was rushed to a hospital and was held overnight.
Berlusconi is embroiled in a sex scandal, a divorce case and public protests demanding his resignation.
TV showed him with blood under his nose, on his mouth and under one eye as he was lifted to his feet by aides after the attack. He was hustled into the back of a car, but he immediately got out, apparently to show he was not badly injured.
But Berlusconi suffered a “small fracture” of the nose, two broken teeth and an injury to the inside and outside of his lip, said Paolo Klun, chief spokesman for Milan’s San Raffaele Hospital.
