“You’ve gone too bloody far!” he shouts gripping De Michele by the neck

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In Orta di Atella two men blocked the car driven by the journalist and attacked him with iron bars. It is the fourth attack in four months. The president of the Order of Journalists Ottavio Lucarelli insisted, “He needs protection, the so-called media escort is insufficient”.De Michele was attacked and threatened by two men whose faces were covered by full-face motorcycle helmets making them unrecognisable. It happened on the 19th September 2018 in Orta di Atella (Caserta). The victim is the journalist Mario De Michele, chief editor of Campania Notizie.

Whilst at the wheel of his car in a street on the edge of the town De Michele had to brake abruptly and stop because two unknown persons on a scooter with a covered number plate, cut in and blocked the road preventing him from continuing. One of the two, the driver, approached the car and through the open window put his hands tightly around the neck of the journalist shouting: “You’re fucking up Orta di Atella”. Meanwhile the other one cracked the car’s windscreen with an iron bar. Then whilst De Michele got his breath back, they got back on the scooter and fled. De Michele immediately made a formal complaint at the local police station. The president of the Campania branch of the Order of Journalists, Ottavio Lucarelli declared in a statement, “That’s enough. Police protection is needed for the journalist Mario De Michele again the target of threats in Orta di Atella. The so-called media escort is not enough. Real protection is necessary.” The journalist had already been the victim of other threats for his investigations about the town of 27,000 inhabitants, 20 kilometres from Naples. Between May and today, four intimidations of him have been recorded; among which an envelope containing bullets.

RDM