Attack on Berlusconi ‘was contrived to gain sympathy’

Sporting a bandaged nose, the Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has left hospital in Milan amid rumours that the attack on him last Sunday, in which a man threw a heavy replica of Milan cathedral in his face, was somehow contrived in order to raise public sympathy.

And if there is any substance to the conspiracy theory, the ploy worked: a new poll published on Sunday shows that the attack, in which Berlusconi reportedly suffered a broken nose and two broken teeth, has sparked a wave of goodwill. The ISPO poll for the Corriere della Sera newspaper puts Berlusconi's approval rating up to 55.9 per cent, from a low 48.6 per cent in mid-November.

Pollster Renato Mannheimer said the rise in popularity was most evident among young voters and practicing Catholics. But it was also evident among his opposition centre-left voters.

The conspiracy theory has been put about mainly via a film posted on YouTube, reportedly seen by 300,000 people over the weekend, which suggested that the TV camera closest to the incident in Milan magically turned away at the moment of impact and that there was actually no blood on his face when his bodyguards thrust him into the back of his car. Yet he then climbed out of the car - despite the supposed injuries - with blood on his face.

Did one of his bodyguards spray fake blood from an aerosol, the film asked? And why was he not taken to the nearest hospital, but to the San Raffaele hospital 10km away?

A spokesman for Berlusconi's party dismissed the conspiracy theory as "micro-terrorism" and, in true Berlusconi style, called the PM's critics "cowards, falsifiers and dreamers".

Meanwhile, despite his family urging him to use the Christmas period to get over his injuries, Berlusconi is said to be insisting on making a public visit to the earthquake hit region of L'Aquila on Christmas Eve. ·