Silvio Berlusconi in hospital after attack....

Berlusconi in hospital after attack....

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi 

spent a quiet night in hospital and asked yesterday to see the front page coverage of the attack that left him with a broken nose and two teeth knocked out, reports said.

The assailant threw a replica of Milan's gothic cathedral into the face of the 73-year-old billionaire after a rally in the northern city, in an attack that Italian newspapers said highlighted political tensions in the country.

Doctors said Berlusconi would spend up to two days in the San Rafaele Hospital, where a banner at the gates said: "Prime Minister Berlusconi get well soon. Real Italians are always with you," ANSA news agency reported.

A health bulletin was to be released on Monday.

Berlusconi's alleged assailant, 42-year-old Massimo Tartaglia, was in an isolation cell in police custody. Police, who had to protect Tartaglia from an angry crowd as they detained him, say the suspect has a history of mental illness.

Tartaglia was also carrying a crucifix and tear gas, ANSA reported. His father, "upset" over the attack, tried to telephone Berlusconi in hospital but could not get through, ANSA said.

Berlusconi's bloodied face dominated Italian newspapers on Monday, with even media that oppose the conservative prime minister condemning the incident and the political atmosphere in Italy.

"Constitutional violence" was the headline on the Berlusconi family's Il Giornale newspaper.

"The assailant is mad but the moral instigators are known even among some centre-right politicians," said the daily.

The left-wing La Repubblica said the attack "highlights the degradation of the political climate in Italy."

"Friends and enemies, partisans and opponents must show solidarity" with Berlusconi. "What is at stake is nothing less than liberty," it said.

Corriere della Sera said there is a "poisoned climate" in Italy. "Political hate is a monster which when unchained is difficult to control," said a commentary in the centrist paper.

Before the attack, scuffles broke out after about 10 people jeered Berlusconi at the rally of his People of Freedom party on Sunday, calling him a "clown".

He shouted back at them "shame on you", drowning them out with the help of the sound system.

Berlusconi was the victim of a similar assault in Rome in 2004 when a man hit him with a camera tripod, cutting his head.

The flamboyant prime minister has come under increasing pressure in recent months over his private life and business affairs. 

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