WORLD BRIEFING / ITALY
Premier Silvio Berlusconi sparked outrage by suggesting that Italy’s women were so beautiful they needed military escorts to avoid being raped.
He made the comments in response to questions about his proposal to deploy 300,000 soldiers to fight crime.
He said even in a militarized state, crimes like rape can happen. “We would have to have so many soldiers because our women are so beautiful,” news agencies quoted him as saying.
Giovanna Melandri of the opposition Democratic Party said the comments were “profoundly offensive,” saying the pain of rape could never be joked about in such a way.
Berlusconi, in an effort to explain himself, said he was complimenting Italian women.
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